SUICIDE..!! Is it the last resort???

You all must be wondering why i am talking about this topic out of the blue.

Saturday morning I had a few wake up calls from friends with some very bad news.

One cousin called and told me that her (our) grandfather expired, a few minutes later another cousin told me that one of my uncles had a chest pain and had to go to hospital and finally Aparna called and asked, "Aditya, news vinnavaa??? Oka friend atma hathya chesukunnadata???"

This news finally woke me up. The first thing that struck my mind was, "Why?? Didn't he have a choice?" And then i could think of a million things he could do instead of the one thing he has done.

This person isn't a close friend to me i met him only a couple of times. I know him through Aparna and Srujana (who i also know through Aparna). They were a group of four close friends. Now he is only a part of their memories which will fade away bit by bit with time.

My impression from the last time i met him was jovial, active, intelligent. But i can never guess the circumstances that led him to the extreme step. Today, I was talking to Srujana and she says she can't work. The questions like why, how, what made him, was there no other way and thoughts like i have to kick him once, i have to talk to him out of this and a lot more thoughts and feelings are making her mind dizzy.

As i mentioned earlier one can do a million things instead of dying. The first things that crossed my mind were,
1. leave everything and go for a nice long journey to think all over again
2. rob a bank and become robinhood
3. try to become a film star
4. write a book
5. join politics and work for the poor
6. just don't do anything and sit at home
7. learn fine arts and become an artist

These being the first few. Madhu might say, "kill someone" as an option but taking life is never a good idea.

In one movie i have seen. A person tries to kill himself for all the bad deeds he has done. The hero stops him and asks him, "who will set things right if you are gone? who will you help by killing yourself?" and kicks him till he cant kill himself (he hee..!!).

Anyways, after that the person roams all over the war torn country helping people in distress and in dire need of help. Its a movie story but why can't this happen in real life too.

I just started thinking. If there could be one reason i have to kill myself what would that be?
Its just a minute i allocated my brain for this thought but one thing i am sure of is i wont be able to find one even if i think for years. But if you ask me, "One reason i don't want to?" I can keep talking and getting ideas for the next few days without a break.

I also read or seen in movies that suicide is actually a psychological syndrome and is a mental disease. Well, I can't dig too deep in this topic as my knowledge here is quite limited but i have my doubts. When and how does this start? Can't friends and family help somehow? What are the signs? I guess its time i learn these if i don't want to lose someone close because of the secret inclination he had, never shared and we could never observe.

Finally, all those who are reading this (I may sound funny here) if you at anytime had a single thought about suicide, talk to your closest one and help yourself get out of it. May be people think they have thought everything through before dying but they sure didn't. One can never calculate the human emotion involved aftermath.

Looks like i am finally done organizing my thoughts about this topic. Its time you share yours. Please comment and let me know what you people think.

ARYA 2: A true sequel and a must watch

Its been a long time i watched a movie, first day morning show. The last one i saw like that was may be 'Maharadhi', yes Baalaiah's Maharadhi. I can still remember the face of Das from that day.

Anyways, maybe i am the first person to blog about this movie.

I give the movie "Four and a half stars". The missing half is because of the climax (dragged it a bit).

The movie, carried the same theme from its predecessor Arya, even the character names.
Except you can consider this a story about new people and very much new circumstances.
I mean the circumstances are new for Arya to tackle not a telugu movie hero.
Many heroes have tackled similar (very similar) situation in a different (read it as routine) way.

The first half was quite funny with a nice interval. Bhramanandam rocked..!!!

The second half too has some good laughs and i couldn't stop laughing at one scene.
I don't want to spoil your fun but Ajay's character is creation of a genius story writer.
Kudos...Sukumar.

The music was great and complimented every scene to the max.

All the actors were great. Kajal's expressions were more complete when compared to Magadheera.

All in all, a must watch. Will give the ratings tomorrow once i finish watching it the second time.

Fun at an Orthopedic's

Chandu and i were chatting and he asked me if i knew a good Orthopedic in the city. I know most of you who know me will be thinking, "yaa..!! ortho? who else will know better?" I typed yes to get an immediate reply from him, 'Babu! Not Aditya."

Well, Bharat too was looking for an ortho as he sprained his left wrist a few weeks back.
Finally, i too was planning to get a full check up as my left knee aches whenever i trek or walk for more than 2-3 hours. With so many reasons, i got an appointment for last Saturday from G Vijay Kumar. A master orthopedic who we visited frequently for fractures, sprains, ligament injuries during my engineering time and were never ever disappointed.

Saturday 5PM we were there and all of us were hauled into his room. I was the first one to be examined.

Doc: "So, whats the problem?"
Adi: "Well, I have a problem with my left knee."
Doc: "Aaha! What happens?"
Adi: "I go for trekking..!!", here the doctor abruptly cut through my sentence and asks "You are in the deccan plateau. Where and how do you go trekking?". After a quick reply as Sahayadris from me he got more sarcastic and asks me, "you are born here in the deccan and go for trekking in sahayadris..?? hmm..!!"
Doc: "Did you have a fever recently or any other proble with the knee earlier?"
Adi: "A few years back when i was in OU, I came here because i had a swelling in the same knee because of some fluid and an ortho from DD suggested surgery. I got the swelling as i played a lot of basketball in those days."
Doc: "Oh! Basketball", Chandu and Bharat were already giggling like little girls sharing a private joke.
The doc then prescribed some medicines and physiotherapy while his juniors were quickly jotting down some notes. He also gave them some terms for the notes, turned towards me and asked "Anything else?"
Adi: "I fractured my right heel bone last year and my ankle still pains when i play tennis."
I didn't anticipate i spurted out so many key words in a single sentence for the doctor's superb sense of humor to get in action.
Doc: "So you jumped from somewhere, else you wouldn't fracture your heel. Your ankle must have sprained a bit badly at the same time." After a short pause, "You play tennis also. What else do you do? Trekking, Basketball, Tennis...!!"
I could think of a few more activities but you can guess why i stopped. After some notes for the juniors, i was asked to get an X-ray of my knee and Chandu was called for examination.

Chandu with a broad smile on his face hopped on to the cot there and,

Doc: "So, whats YOUR problem?"
Chandu: "two weeks ago i was in Goa..." (the doc again with his natural, sarcastic cut)
"Did he take you there too?? (pointing at me)"
Chandu somehow told no but understood he never cared for the answer and continued,
"i was jumping and landed on a few twisted toes. after that, last week i was playing basketball at office and.."
the doc doing it again: "dont you people have anything to do at office, he goes trekking, basketball tennis. You go to goa and play basketball. Why dont you just sit and work?"
Then he prescribed the medicine, gave some notes and waved bharat to get on the table.

By this time i was done with my x-ray, demonstration of the physiotherapy sessions i need to do daily and was back with the fun. Chandu and i were now laughing out quite loud and were not concentrating on what the doc was asking Bharat. We were laughing just by a glance at the look on his face.

Doc: "SO..! WHATS YOUR PROBLEM?"
Bharat: "Well, Sir! I was playing TT at office and..."

You can imagine what happened next.....

Train: a small weekend stunt

Hi all. As you already would have read from my november itinerary blog earlier this weekend i have been to Chennai. A lot of people asked me why are you going/coming to Chennai and most of them giggling and a majority of them laughing out loud. "Chennai aaah..!!! he hee (heahahehaheaheha)..!!" something like this.

The little stunt was in my return journey and those who don't care what i did for the rest of my weekend may scroll down till you find some bold text.

Now, back to the post and a little history.

A few years back when i was in my third year, Kiran, a medico from Warangal and a friend of mine suddenly came to my hostel and asked me to pack things so that i can join them for a trip to Chennai as one of their friends dropped in the last minute and the train was to depart in another hour. I hurriedly packed a few things and i regretted getting on the train for the next few months.

I was born and brought up in Bhadrachalam, a place in Andhra Pradesh where the mercury rises above 50 degrees celcius every summer and stays that way for most of May. We used to play cricket on granite surface for hours in the afternoon in that sun and always felt normal. I always thought high temparatures and hot sun will never be a problem for me till i put my foot in chennai.

I have a loads of reasons to hate that place:
1. we could get only one bucket of normal water a day
2. i only felt for 5 minutes that i had a bath
3. food wasn't good at all
4. a very small minority are willing to understand what you want to say in english or hindi
5. they speak to you in tamil and they curse if you didn't understand and so on...

If i start writing my experience during those 4 days, i will have to change the title of this blog and create a new one for what i actually wanted to write about. Anyways, now you have an idea of what my previous experience in chennai was.

Saturday morning, i was trying to lock my eyes and sleep till i felt the train has stopped and i start sweating like my surface pores have become holes and the noise will wake me up.
But, i was surprised when a person woke me up telling, "babu! Chennai aa gaya" and i felt a cold breeze as i stepped out of the train.

I was quickly getting wet in the rain and after some confusion in taking a bus to Adayar and some suggestions in Tamil in which i could understand the bus numbers and area names though i couldn't guess what meaningful sentence they would all make, I took an auto to Swaroop's home. I called him and handed over the phone to the driver who got further directions from him. An hour or two before lunch time i was at his house. We chatted for sometime over a nice cup of tea (thanks Neeraja) and after i freshened up we had our lunch and a very lazy afternoon.

It was raining a bit heavily outside and open windows allowed the cool fresh air onto us making it a perfect rainy day with a cup of tea i my hand. That evening I had a little party with Manohar and Srikanth (engg friends) who stayed quite nearby.

It was raining on Sunday too. Swaroop brought a huge variety of vegetables and the lovely couple started making a big string of items for lunch. I too was bored and struck a deal to cook Baigan and Rasam. Swaroop made dondakayi fry, bendakayi fry and mulankada pulusu with boiled eggs in it.
I completed vankayi kothimeera kharam and tomato rasam. Neeraja set the table and added dal, raitha, salad, fruits and icecream to the menu. Manohar and Srikanth were invited and we had a sumptuous lunch while discussiong an array of topics ranging from Sachin's godly knock, a very bad match going on that day, the vegetables, future trips and many more.

We had a nice evening walk in the beach nearby as it stopped raining and the weather couldn't have been more pleasant. This time the stay was perfect and my opinion about the last two points is still the same though the circumstances have reversed the first three points i hated about chennai.

Now the small stunt,

Since i felt Charminar was a bit too early to leave on Sunday. I booked my tickets in GT (departs and hour later) till Warangal and for Sampark Kranthi from Kazipet to SC. GT reaches WL at 5AM and i set the alarm to 445AM and slept after having a cup of tea in Ongole at around midnight.

I don't remember the details but i woke up from some stupid dream suddenly and took out my cell hoping its not five yet. The time was 515. I jumped from the upper berth and took my bag, wore my sandals and took my specs praying that the train is a few minutes late and we havent crossed Warangal yet. I asked the person in the nearby side-lower whether we crossed WL and he replied, "Haan! dus minute pehle ruka tha wahan pe. Ab tho Ramagundam mein utharna padega."

I felt the train wasn't moving too fast and i could see a few lights outside. I was optimistic that it was a small station near WL and the train would slow down a bit more for me to get down. I went to a nearby door and was on the foot board to see my chances of getting down. I could see a flyover nearby and the train slowed down to a speed i was confident i can get down running and go to the flyover easily.

I jumped and landed slowly and safely. I walked for a minute to reach the flyover and found steps to go above. At the end of the steps a couple were talking and were a little surprised to see me there. I thought "its 5AM! come on give me a break." to myself and asked the guy "Kazipet.." with a question mark in my face. He pointed to my right side.

I crossed the road and waved at an auto. Again i said "Kazipet.." with the question will you take me there on my face. If you are wondering last time it was which way is it face.

He said yes and i got into it. Aroung 100 yeards down the flyover the auto guy stopped and said "idey anna" pointing towards an arch. I was surprised, happy and the first thought that crossed my mind was "ooho so the train slowed down because it was close to KZP junction and i was lucky that i didn't get down at WL".

Anyways, it was around half past five and my train scheduled for departure a few minutes before seven was an hour late. That way, my nice weekend ended with a little excitement and lots of waiting before i am back in office and sharing this with you all.

Luckily, luck was on my side. I mean what are the chances for these two occurrences:

1. Chennai is cool and pleasant
2. You jump from a train and land a few yards away from the station you need to go to and the train that you boarded doesn't go to.

Now tell me, whats the moral of this story...!!

NOVEMBER, a month turning out to be quite interesting

After the long one week trip to the north in the end of October, i always imagined that November would be quite boring, slow and without any pace. I had no plans for further trips and thought i would be spending most of the november days at home.

First i will have to go back to the mid of October when i was struggling with a new map that was turning out to be quite hard and the date for my journey to north was nearing and i had to finish this before i leave. There was no schedule of new work coming up after that and blah blah. The thing i want to convey here is i thought i will be quite tired by the beginning of this month and will have nothing to do most part of it and hence was planning may be single weekend trekking trip near pune.

Then i came to know that Das is coming to India on November 15th and will be landing in Hyderabad.
That came as a blasting news and it means some serious partying during that weekend. So 15th and 16th are party days.

My office people were discussing a colleagues birthday plan and they are planning a big party including funds from the two other colleague who got married recently and its going to be some friday or saturday before 20th.

Then, Madhu my dear engineering friend calls me and tells me that his elder bro's marriage is fixed on 22nd at our home pitch, hyderbad and it being a sunday most of my engineering friends will be landing here in Hyderabad on 21st and its going to be party time on 21st and 22nd.

So the only weekends left for me to plan a trekking trip were 6th and 28th.
Soon, i got a call from one of my old friends asking me to come to chennai and i have been planning to visit him for a long time. So i changed my plan and am leaving to Chennai tommorow (6th). So this weekend too is booked. Also, my chennai friend has got a project in his mind which he wants to get offshored from US and i thought i would discuss this with him during my visit.

In the meantime, a friend at hyderabad has setup a new software company when i was touring the north and he wants me to join and help. In case the project from my friend works out well, its going to make my weekdays a bit hectic and happening after 8th.

So the only weekend remaining for a trip is the last one November 28th but again i already have some long term big plans for December and would like to rest the last weekend.

But, my guess is the last weekend too will turnout to be something nice as that too is part of the most happening month in recent times.

One more twist that came recently is that one of my cousins who got married in august is shifting base to hyderabad and my parent are accompanying her. They will be here from 12th to 16th. Ooops..!! Thats coinciding with the dates das visits so looks like my life is going to be much more fun than anticipated.

So what i thought would be calm after the storm is turning out to be a hurricane of fun.