My Experiments With Twitter Part 3

1^st part of this post was about the advantages and disadvantages of Twitter.

Those who would like to go through it, please follow this link:

 My Experiments With Twitter Part 1 

2^nd part describes my reasons for joining twitter and how one can identify Twitter addiction. It can be viewed at:

My Experiments With Twitter Part 2

To know what twitter is or for a basic guide to twitter, you can refer to one of my later posts in this blog:
A Guide To Twitter

 This post is going to be the last post in "My Experiments With Twitter" series. It covers some of the Celebrity replies, retweets and favorited tweets in my credit. They are not the direct screenshots. I've linked together the conversations simply using MS Paint. This post is a bible/guiding light/source of inspiration to all those who are dying to get a reply/retweet from your favorite celebrity.I'll be the happiest person if this post helps at least one guy to succeed in this sacred mission! (Please let me know if you find it helpful)

The 1^st surprise given to me in Twitter was by South Indian film star Rima Kallingal. She favorited my first ever tweet to her!:

Music director Narayananunni is also there on twitter in this handle: @vettila. I was so excited that I instantly sent him a screenshot of it! This was a good start. That day I got the first impulse to try for more and compile it in a blog post.

After that, I tried a dozen times to get a reply or retweet from Rima. But only recently I got a chance to strike her, when she became active in Mullaperiyar issue. She retweets all mentions to her on that topic. I got not only a retweet, but also a reply:

Yes! Creativity plays an important role for surviving in Twitter... :D ;) 3:)

There's this wonderful lady, who is a gifted actor, talented anchor, and, unlike certain other celebrities, cares to reply to her fans. She has replied to more than 10 tweets of mine... and she is one of my favorite personalities, DIVYA DUTTA!
Her first tweet to me :))

  I guess DD & Shreya Ghoshal suffer from insomnia; they are active in twitter usually during the hours of darkness:

DD also has a refined collection of such cool pics:

But it's so sad that her true potential is never esteemed:

Padmashri Dr Resul Pookutty is not a stranger to this blog. We've known him before. Ref: Resul Pookutty reloaded......!!! (Malayalam article on an interview with him for college magazine)

When the 1^st picture with him was clicked, I was standing at the right end of that pic. Thank God, the pic wasn't clear. Before his bodyguard clicked the next pic, I directly requested Mr Pookutty, "Sir, can I please stand near you for this pic?" He replied, "Ladies always have first preference... Come, stand here, close to me :)"

This historical photo is there in our college magazine.
I'm the one holding a paper:

 My next prey was Raima Sen. I had seen her Bengali film "The Japanese Wife" some months back and loved it a lot, but, only recently did I know that she was Raima Sen, the daughter of actor Moon Moon Sen, sister of actor Riya Sen, and a noted actor herself! (Sorry, my knowledge about Hindi films is limited)
Raima Sen has also starred opposite Narain in the Malayalam film Veeraputhran.

Raima Sen's birthday was on November 7^thand I had sent a tweet wish. She tweeted "Thank you twitterverse". That was a general thanks but I wanted something more, something special:

Without knowing that he is the famous Malayalam director, I once had a tweet chat with Lijo Jose Pellissery. Finally, when I realized it was him:

A RT from PETA India when #5words was a trend:

The following tweet was something I had sincerely longed for. The gorgeous lady, the sensation and youth icon of India, SHREYA GHOSHAL! She has a lot of followers and gets thousands of tweets every day. So it was a difficult task for me to get her attention. Many a times I tried, but in vain.
Finally with the help of another Twitter friend @vin2ktalks, I achieved it!
Here's how we won her attention:

yippee!!!!!!

Hard work, sincerity, consistency, determination and optimism pays 0:)
 This amazing lady recently surprised me with a reply. It was totally unexpected and, literally, I was jumping with joy!

 For this tweet, I also got some 15 retweets!

There are some fake accounts too in Twitter. One of them was that of South Indian film star Ananya. It was clear from his/her tweets that (s)he is fake. The logic is simple: 9 out of his/her 10 tweets say she's original. From the psychological point of view we can confirm that's duplicate Ananya.

In that direct message (DM) she sent me, she said that she put up the pic so everyone will understand that the account belongs to original Ananya. But that pic was available to anyone who knew to use Google Image search :P
I still remember the envy of some tweeple when duplicate Ananya followed me! Ha!
Rima Kallingal verified that Ananya was not on twitter and within a short time this dupe account got deleted!

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End of the original post.

---

After publishing this post, I sent a personal tweet to everyone who was a part of it. Raima Sen replied again:

Sanjeev Thomas is AR Rahman's lead guitarist and a singer/composer himself. He sang "Nenjinullil" from the Malayalam film "Diamond necklace" and also did the theme song of CCL Kerala Tuskers. I knew him before. Long story......
Anyway,

Madhuri Dixit started her twitter account only recently. She never used to reply to any tweets and I don't expect replies when tweeting her. But one very fine day,

That was a good start for her. Now she often replies to fans!

Twitter is not only a medium for fun and connecting with friends, but also a great platform for interaction with different organizations.
I connected with Greenpeace via Twitter.

  Managed to get some RTs from Shashi Tharoor, Resul Pookkutty and Raima Sen and hence my petition to Railway Minister got promoted.
(Ref: Working For A Good Change )

RT from Shashi Tharoor

 Slowly I broadened my reach to international level too ;) ;) ;)

Rie Sinclair is an artist whom I discovered only recently. She is not only one of the best singers ever, but also a song writer, music composer, guitarist, model and many more...and she has made her mark in all these fields! Her songs were Emmy nominated twice, in 2006 and in 2012.
Tweets from my favourite songstress 

 You should check out her song Where You Are. It's awesome!!!

PS:Don't believe her. The lyrics I assumed was utter rubbish!

This lady is amazingly talented. I'm a total fan of hers, perhaps her biggest fan ever! No other tweet has ever made me as happy as this one did!

Thank you Rie, for your love, for inspiring me, and for your eternal music :)

Dana Delany... the 2-times Emmy award winning actress...
Though she's not so famous, I seriously think she's one of the best! Her role as Katherine Mayfair in the super hit TV series Desperate Housewives mesmerized me! She is also the lead in the ongoing TV series Body Of Proof. Dana gives voice to Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane and Batman's ex-fiancée Andrea Beaumont in the animated series.

 Later I discovered that India Post has withdrawn IR coupon service and I contacted Dana again. In a day she tweeted:

 I bet there's no other actor who does so much for fans!
 Dana has restored many people's faith that celebrities will reply to their tweets! I love asking her silly questions. And the best part is that she mostly answers! :D

Isn't she awesome...???
Quoting a friend, "I could turn lesbian for her!"
This is the least I could do: 75 Reasons Why I Love Dana Delany

 S Club 7 ( Miami 7) is one of the bands that introduced me to western music, bands and big labels. (Ref: Serendipity: A Vid That Was Once My Fav). Rachel Stevens was always my favourite among the 7 members of the band. She was also the runner-up of the 6th season of BBC's reality show Strictly Come Dancing. She usually don't reply to fans; she just RTs it. I've been begging for her reply at an average rate of 20 tweets per week :P
And unlike other fans, I got a "hi" and a kiss too ;)

Well... On a december midnight I was having an sms chat with my friend. Along with texting, she was also watching the film "Samay", starring Sushmita Sen. I told her that I love Sushmita Sen a lot, but she never replies to my tweets :( :( :( and my friend teased me saying that the reason she love Sushmita is that Sush doesn't reply to insane tweeters like me :/
I took it as a challange and instantly tweeted Sushmita (even though I wasn't sure of getting a reply). Today morning, I was thrilled to see that Sushmita has replied to that tweet!!!
From her previous tweets it was clear that she plays a major role in grooming the Miss Universe contestant from India, the adorable lady, Shilpa Singh. Sushmitaji had also shared a link to Vote for Shilpa.

Moral: Strike while the iron is hot!

If you've watched at least one episode of the TV show Gossip Girl you would have definitely noticed the character Lily van der Woodsen, played by Kelly Rutherford. I love Kelly, but not in a 'I love Dana Delany' or 'I love Meryl Streep' way. She is so sweet, cute, funny and I love her smile, look, fashion and some of her trademark expresions. Still trying to figure out why she replied to this tweet!!!

 
That's all folks :) :) :)
Other than celebrity tweets, I also got many friends on twitter. If I mention all their names, that would be content for another post titled "All those who made 'My Experiments With Twitter' series Possible!" Once again thank you every one who made this post. Sorry for some of the bitter fights I had on twitter.

This series, My Experiments With Twitter, is in particular, dedicated to two of my special friends/brothers @vaisakhvsk and @vin2ktalks.

A word of gratitude to my real-life friend, @nikh_nk who helped me abandon my old handle @aNU_rELOADED and choose the new one, @aNUbOMB :)

I also thank all others whose names are not mentioned here.
And don't be reluctant to contact me if you need any assistance for getting replies. I'll do my best! ;) Thanks again :)

My Experiments With Twitter Part 2

1^st part of this post was about the advantages and disadvantages of Twitter.

Those who would like to go through it, please follow this link:

 My Experiments With Twitter Part 1

It was some 3 years back I started using Twitter. But it seemed an unknown world to me. Not a single friend of mine was using Twitter at that time. Now I would like to share with you some of the reasons why I started tweeting even though none of my friends were in Twitter.

1. The ban on Facebook and Orkut in the computer labs of our college.
2. Inbuilt mobile app for using Twitter.
3. Long and boring study leaves, when I had nothing else to do except exploring new websites, cool apps & software, top rated videos on Youtube, and downloading films.
4. Some of the celebrated, talked over or controversial tweets and media obsession on it.
5. In a hope that, one day, I too might become a celebrated tweeter. ;)
6. Ease for my fans to follow me! :P

Somebody once told me that those things you don’t understand will always seem boring (I guess that ‘somebody’ is me…). Also, the first person I followed on Twitter was a celebrity who had just a namesake account on Twitter. Within weeks, I abandoned Twitter.

Even though I never entered it, that account was linked to my blog and so blog updates were published automatically.

It was during my previous study leave that I re-entered Twitter. Not remembering the old password, I had to reset the password and finally opened.

Practice makes one perfect. So I practiced daily and hence became active in Twitter.Now, how can you check whether you are addicted to twitter universe?

1. You open the web browser and automatically hit ‘T’ on the keyboard, followed by the ‘Enter’ key; obviously, www.twitter.com will be the 1^st option in the auto-suggestions of the search engine.
2. When you create a new mail id, you check the availability of your twitter handle as your new username.
3. You have a tendency to use ‘#’ tags for important or special words/phrases/names even in other social networking sites. E.g. #SaveMullaPeriyar or #Kolaveri.
4. When mention places, you either use 'at' or make sure there's a gap between '@' and place name. E.g.: before you used to type ‘@College’, but now you type ‘at College’ or ‘@ College’. In Twitter, they may refer to other users even though you were talking about a place.
5. You desperately want to get a Bharti Airtel/Reliance/Tata Docomo/Videocon SIM as these alone provide text message notification services in Twitter India.
6. Just after getting up or just before going to bed you check notifications.
7. When you have many tabs opened in the browser window, one of them will definitely be Twitter.
8. Something important/unusual/good happens and you say, “let me tweet about it."
9. (Now this one is my favourite and refers to students like me) You are answering a 15-marks question, which you are supposed to write in more than two answer sheets, but you end up writing less than 140 characters!!!

If any of these applies to you, then you are an addict!

 Next post will be a list of Celebrity replies, retweets and favourites to my tweets. I'm sure that will be useful to at least some twitter freaks :)

My Experiments With Twitter Part 1

This post is the first part of my take on Twitter.

Even though I started a twitter account some 4 years back, I became active and got addicted to it in the past few months. Getting introduced to Twitter without any previous knowledge about it, is like a 2 year old baby being gifted with a playstation.

During a study leave, I created an account. I wasn't left with a choice of username/handle I had in mind, so was forced to take a weird handle. Then I tried my best to understand it. But by that time, study leave got over. So I abandoned Twitter. Actually, I had totally forgotten about it till the recent study leave! I’m sure that many of you had the same experience. But this time I got a study leave of around 2 months, including 10 days of Onam vacation (Advantage of belonging to Kerala), original study leave of about 2 weeks and postponing of exams (thanks to CALICUT UNIVERSITY!). So I decided to explore twitter and understand it better. That’s how I officially entered the wonderful world of tweets!

This post covers some of the advantages and disadvantages of Twitter.

Advantages

1. Simple layout
2. Less  complicated design
3. Easy procedures
4. Simple to use
5. Privacy of personal information (if you prefer that)
6. Most of the present-day cellular phones have inbuilt apps for twitter
7. You can capitalize any letters of username/handle unlike Facebook. No issues such as 1^st letter not capitalized, too many capitals etc.
8. Capitalization doesn’t affect the destination of reply. Eg: instead of @ aNU_9_10_90 you typed @Anu_9_10_90, it still reaches @aNU_9_10_90
9. Ability to follow celebrity updates
10. Let them know what you have to say. Even if they don’t reply, they will read it, provided they know twitter well
11. Rarely, get surprised and delighted to see them reply to your tweets to them (depends on the person you tweet.  Detailed descriptions in later sections)
12. Can verify accounts of important people (though presently Twitter has stopped the verification facility)
13. Any idiot can have followers provided you follow and follow back everyone (will come to the details in later sections)
14. Improve leadership quality (Having followers implies that you are the leader!)
15. Communication with different kinds of people from across the world without revealing your (and of course, their ) identity
16. Simplicity of sharing information (following, followers, tweets, retweets and favourites)
17. Ideas can be expressed in just 140 characters. No need of bloody explanations as in exams
18. Help us to be very efficient with words
19. Teach us to become point-specific
20. Make us capable of using given resources efficiently (and thereby)
21. Train us to manage crises

Disadvantages

1. Only 140 characters allowed in each tweet
2. Chatterboxes cannot survive here
3. Username is restricted to alphabets, numbers and underscores”_”.  Spaces and characters like .#$*>” etc. not allowed
4. Most of the usernames you have in mind would already be in use, finally being forced to end up with some stupid, long names with underscores “_” and numerical characters, like aNU_9_10_90 (that’s my DOB)
5. When replying to or mentioning someone, their username consumes a part of the allowed 140 characters. Eg: if you re replying to aNU_9_10_90, then you type “@aNU_9_10_90 blah blah blah” 13 characters are consumed by the handle
6. This problem occurs mainly with accounts of important people. You cannot be sure whether the account originally belongs to that particular celebrity unless it is a verified account or any of the tweeple (twitter+people) confirms it with the original person.
7. Twitter for mobile phones is not available for all models unless there is an inbuilt app
8. This disadvantage is mainly targeted to the male audience. Gals are less in Twitter (maybe ‘coz we gals find the restriction of 140 characters extremely difficult and bullshit!)

Ha! If I had taken this trouble to write my exams, I would not have had so many arrears to my credits!!!

More details of Twitter to be covered in the coming post……………………

A LOT CAN HAPPEN OVER COFFEE ;)

My article in our college magazine this year, fx991ES
A Lot Can Happen Over Coffee *wink*
(An "A" is printed extra. Don't know what actually happened or who added that)

Please give your frank opinion on this story.
To be very frank, I hadn't liked the story very much. Many of you might not like Aparna asking Richard to keep in touch; they've known hardly for a few hours! This creates an impression (well... to be precise, only in Kerala) that she's not a good girl. When I was about to modify the situations, all my friends who read the rough copy suggested that I needn't make further modifications and that it is better than Silpachechiyude Ormaykku. Hence, that rough copy became my article for the magazine!
Now an explanation to the given problem:
Maybe Aparna too felt that same "UNDEFINED SOMETHING" for Richard...
Maybe because she's more like cool a Chennai girl than a Keralite...
After all, it's just a Fiction, like Silpachechiyude Ormaykku. Come on... cool down... and enjoy the journey with them... B-)
And don't forget... SHARE SOME LOVE... LEAVE A COMMENT.........! :))

8-LEGGED FREAKS!!!

Lying flat on my bed yesterday night, and staring at the ceiling, my thoughts wandered madly. Suddenly it hooked up at something...

All children suffer from different types of fears. Most of them disappear with time. As a child, I had two fears: Spiders & Teachers (The latter one, unfortunately, still exist. Ref: An Idea Can Change Your Life) Spiders are a species that most kids fear. They are omnipresent too (i.e., present everywhere). If there were houses without spiders, I would have done anything to escape into one. :D Sometimes, I've blamed God, for producing such spooky creatures on earth, good for nothing but to scare the hell out of us. (That was before our science teacher taught us the biological impacts and the need of spiders in nature)

My house is an abode of spiders. Especially the bathrooms were their breeding grounds. A variety of spiders, small, medium, big, male, female, mutilated, mommies carrying eggs; all these are present here. Out of this vast variety, the scary ones carrying big white egg sacs on their abdomen are the most fearsome. I've also witnessed tiny baby spiders slowly getting out of these sacs and gradually spreading on the wall! Even now, thinking of that scene makes my hair stand attention and body go weak!

Every time I go to the bathroom, I used to check whether the spiders can be seen in their usual places. If yes, I used to be relieved. Else, I go inside expecting the worst to happen. Who can guarantee that they are not resting on the soap dish or won’t pop out from the toilet seat? :P

 But for the past few months, I haven't come across even a single spider. It made me worry about spider communities. Being a nature lover, I was worried whether they are in a threat to extinction. In fact, am I missing those awful creatures??? Nee… no chance…

But something was wrong then. I rubbed my eyes and looked again at the spot where I was staring before. Lo! This whole time I was staring at an 8-legged freak! 7-legged freak, to be specific. This guy was handicapped. I thanked God for saving a very important link in ecosystem, from the threat to extinction. I also thanked Him for not giving wings for spiders. Else, they would have been ten times more spooky and scary…

Wait!!! Did I hear my sister screaming from the bathroom “Amma, here there are three spiders……!” ???

Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wake Up

That was a wonderful day. Anu was returning home after participating in a Tech fest. Sitting in the train, she took out her wallet, made of pure leather, bought from an expensive branded shop in Kolkata. Only very rarely did that wallet carry money greater than its MRP!

Rs 5000/- for a team of five. So each person gets Rs 1000/-. That was a handsome reward for bagging first place in a Treasure Hunt. She counted the money once again and safely stuffed it into her original Wrangler jean. Anu looked at her Fastrack watch. The time was 4:10 pm. The train would start in 5 minutes. If it started on time there's no other delay, she would reach home at around 7 pm. Plugging the headphone into her ears, Anu slowly lay back. She felt very relaxed on listening to her favorite track "Where You Are"...

Anu always fancied being known as the ‘Branded Girl’ of the school & college. How her heart beat when she held Ray-Ban glasses or Lee T-shirt… and the happiness of owning one… She felt like a Princess…… Now this money she earned will be going for a Reebok shoe :)

The train grudged and growled and finally started off its journey. There were more vendors inside the train than the passengers. Anu got so irritated. She increased the volume or her I pod and closed her eyes. Now she felt much better.

Anu opened her eyes again. A voice was piercing her ears. She looked up and found a teenage girl, along with a small child, probably her sibling, selling pens. Though she had no intention of buying that pen, Anu inquired its price, just to start a conversation with her. One pen cost Rs 20/-. Anu carefully examined the pen. It was "4-coloured" as the lad demands; black, blue, red and green. It was made of low quality plastic and two out of four colors of the pen that Anu tried, were unemployed (i.e., they were not in working condition). On one end, there was a funny face wearing a cap, with long thread attached to it, to wear around the neck.

"Twenty rupees is excess. Can you give two pens for twenty five?" Anu was in for a bargain. But she never expected this girl to settle for it. Anu had no other option but buy two pens for Rs 25/-

From the short conversation, Anu came to know that the girl's name was Lachmi.

"Lachmi, why do you waste your time and energy selling things in train?" Anu asked her.

"Doing a job and making money is better than just begging around"

"I mean why don't you go to study?"

"I come from a very poor family. Our parents are doing the same job. They can't afford to send us to school. If I do a job, that will be a suport for my family" she blushed.

She also said that her dream is to send her little brother to school!

Anu wanted to tell her about the free schooling programs and bans on child labour. But she wondered whether this girl would understand such things. Moreover, the girl chose it herself. She was very determined and had a big dream (even though the fulfillment of that dream was a big question mark in front of her).

There weren't any more questions. Anu took out her leather wallet. She counted all her cousins and second cousins, all of them studying in Lower Primary or less. There were twenty five of them. Anu took out a fresh 500 rupee note from her branded wallet......

While stuffing twenty five pens into her Diesel bag, she managed to take a look at Lachmi's face. Her eyes were wide with surprise. She thanked Anu and walked away...

The Anu of this story can be you or me. Anu could have stopped her from doing this job. She could have called to the helpline number 1098. She could have saved Lachmi from these sufferings. But she didn't do that. Why? Ask yourself. May be because we all suffer from the TBTC (Too Busy To Care) Syndrome. Let this not happen to another Lachmi. Let us fight against child-labour.Let us provide children with their basic rights of food, shelter, clothing and education. Let us wake up............

blah blah blah

It has been more than one month since I last blogged! One important news is that I lost my cellphone :( That friday i bunked the last hour and left for home. I very well remember stuffing the phone into the pant pocket before getting into the bus. But on reaching the railway station, the phone was missing. May be I hadn't put it carefully into the pocket. May be it fell down when i sat on/ got up from the bus seat. Now, in order to search for the missing phone inside the bus, the next Friday also I got out of the college early ;) I told the conductor that my phone was missing and whether they had found it. His reply was a big "NO". Even if they get it, will they give it back? At least, all are not be Mahatma Gandhi-s and Mother Theresa-s.

Well... I was kinda busy with seminars, mini project report, main project topic...all those stuffs an Engineering student has to face at some point of life. Usually, while taking lots for, say, presenting a seminar,my name comes first (this doesn't apply for a lottery ticket or lucky dip though!) This time also, my number was 3 and i had to finish off the seminar on the first day itself. The topic, abstracts, presentation slides, reports... everything was prepared in a hurry. So obviously there were many faults. It always happens to the 1st numbers;the Guinea pigs. But in one way, I'm happy. I never have to ask "Mera Number Kab Aayega?" I always say "Ab Mera Number Hai!" or "Hello, Hi, Bye Bye!" Also it is said that the first students always get a consideration; even if they don't get, in reality.

Well... It's the month of Ramadaan and all of us, irrespective of religion, are eagerly awaiting for the moon/chandran to appear(Religion is not a barrier to enjoy public holidays, especially for us, the Keralites). I was gazing at the sky in search of a trace of chandran. But today I saw only 'Chandran' uncle and he is our neighbour..

Wonder why none of my Muslim friends invited me to their home.

Dear friends, though I appear to eat a lot, I don't have the capacity to eat much now a days; just 2 plates of biriyani, four rotis, one plate gobi dry fry, one plate mushroom masala...etc... for one time meal... isn't it very simple meal??? So please invite me.

Am getting bored of sitting idle at home. Sometimes I drive my Black Beauty, Honda Activa...mostly for dropping my sister and picking her from music class. During the initial stages of my driving, once I happened to lose control over the scooter and both of us fell on the ground (but that was not a problem with the driving; there is a sharp and steep curve near the music class. When i gave side to a car, my leg slipped from the sloping road and that's how we fell down). Yesterday we were talking about that fall when we reached that same place. So I said "...but now a days I drive very smoothly..."

BANG!!!

The three of us (Akku, scooter and I) were lying down. We somehow got up before everyone there gathered around. After that, I never said a word about my driving :D

When we were waiting for bus near Shoranur railway station, the bus in which my cellphone got lost, was passing in the opposite direction. On seeing that bus, i chuckled. My friend asked "What happened?" I said that i lost the phone in this particular bus. "Then why don't you ask them?" "I've already done that honey...but they said they didn't find it :(" "They may be lying. You can't believe these people""may be they didn't get it for real..." "May be they got it and still keeping quiet..." "Hmmm... may be......"
As said before... All are not Mahatma G-s and Mother T-s............!

തിരൂര്‍ സ്റ്റേഷനിലെ ചായക്കട - രണ്ടാം ഖണ്ഡം

ഈ പോസ്റ്റിന്റെ ഒന്നാം ഭാഗം വായിച്ചവര്‍ക്ക് മാത്രമേ ഈ രണ്ടാം ഭാഗം പൂര്‍ണ്ണമായും മനസ്സിലാകൂ...

ഭാഗം: ഒന്ന് 

ദിവസം: ഫെബ്രുവരി 11, 2011, വെള്ളിയാഴ്ച വൈകുന്നേരം

വേദി: തിരൂര്‍ സ്റ്റേഷനിലെ കാന്റീന്‍

http://engagingmyinsomnia.blogspot.in/2011/02/blog-post_14.html

തുടര്‍ന്ന് വായിക്കുക...

ഭാഗം: രണ്ട് 

ദിവസം: ഫെബ്രുവരി 25, 2011, തിങ്കളാഴ്ച വൈകുന്നേരം

വേദി: തിരൂര്‍ സ്റ്റേഷനിലെ ആ കാന്റീന്‍

അന്നത്തെ സംഭവം നടന്നിട്ട് ഇന്നേക്ക് കൃത്യം മൂന്നാഴ്ച കഴിഞ്ഞു. ശനിയാഴ്ച ക്ലാസ്സ്‌ ഉള്ളപ്പോള്‍, സാധാരണ കോഴിക്കോട് ഭാഗത്തേക്ക് പോകാറുള്ളവര്‍ ആരും വരാറില്ല. ശനിയാഴ്ച ലീവ് എടുക്കാന്‍ എനിക്ക്  ആകെ കൂട്ടുണ്ടാകാറുള്ള രണ്ട് കോഴിക്കോടുകാര്‍ (ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്ക്  ശനിയാഴ്ച ക്ലാസ്സൊന്നും ബാധകമല്ല), അന്നേ ശനിയാഴ്ച നല്ല കുട്ടികളായി ക്ലാസ്സില്‍ ഇരിക്കാന്‍ തീരുമാനിച്ചു. അന്ന് വൈകുന്നേരം, സ്ഥിരം പോകാറുള്ള പാസ്സഞ്ചര്‍  ട്രെയിനില്‍ ഞാന്‍ ഒറ്റയ്ക്കായിരുന്നു. കുറച്ചു കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോള്‍, മറ്റൊരു എഞ്ചിനീയറിംഗ് കോളേജിലെ രണ്ടാം വര്‍ഷ വിദ്യാര്‍ത്ഥിയെ പരിചയപ്പെട്ടു കത്തിയടിയും ആരംഭിച്ചു. പിന്നെ കുറെ നേരം സ്ഥലകാലബോധമില്ലാതെ ഗംഭീര വാചകമടിയായിരുന്നു (ദൈവം സഹായിച്ച് അതിന് ഒരിക്കലും ഒരു ക്ഷാമവും ഉണ്ടായിട്ടില്ല). അങ്ങെനെ വണ്ടി തിരൂരെത്തി. ജനലിലൂടെ പുറത്തു നോക്കിയപ്പോഴേക്ക്  അതാ... നമ്മുടെ ചായക്കട! അവര്‍ അന്നത്തെ ഒരു 20 രൂപ തിരിച്ചു തരാനുണ്ട്‌.

ചോദിക്കണോ?

വേണ്ട...

ചോദിച്ചാലോ?

വേണ്ട... 3 ആഴ്ച മുന്നേയുള്ള സംഭവമല്ലേ. അയാള്‍ മറന്നുപോയിക്കാണും. മാത്രമല്ല, അന്ന് അവിടെ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്ന അയാള്‍ തന്നെ ഇന്നും അവിടെ ഉണ്ടാകണമെന്നില്ലല്ലോ...  വേണ്ട... 

എന്നാലും... ചോദിച്ചേക്കാം...

വേണ്ട...

ഇങ്ങനെ ധര്‍മ്മസങ്കടത്തില്‍ അകപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നതു കണ്ട എന്റെ പുതിയ സുഹൃത്ത്‌ കാര്യം തിരക്കി. വള്ളി-പുള്ളി വിടാതെ അവനു കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ വിശദമാക്കി കൊടുത്തു.

"ബെറ്ദേ ഒന്ന് ചോദിച്ച് നോക്കിക്കോളീ... കിട്ടിയാ കിട്ടി. അല്ലെങ്കി ചട്ടി!"

അവന്റെ വാക്കുകള്‍ എനിക്കൊരു പ്രചോദനമായി.

ട്രെയിന്‍ എടുക്കാറായിട്ടു കൂടി, പുറത്തിറങ്ങി, അവിടെയുള്ള ഔട്ട്‌ലെറ്റില്‍ നില്‍ക്കുന്ന ആളോട് ചോദിച്ചു,

"ഏട്ടാ, ഏകദേശം മൂന്നാഴ്ച മുന്നേ......"

പറഞ്ഞു തുടങ്ങിയപ്പോഴേക്കും ആ ഏട്ടന്‍ തിരിച്ചിങ്ങോട്ട് ചോദിച്ചു,

"ഓ... അന്ന് ഇതേ ട്രെയിനില്‍ വന്നു ചായക്ക്‌ കാശു തന്ന്, ട്രെയിന്‍ വിട്ടപ്പോള്‍ ചായ വാങ്ങിക്കാതെ തിരിച്ചു കയറിയ കുട്ടിയല്ലേ... ഓര്‍മ്മയുണ്ട്, ഓര്‍മ്മയുണ്ട്..." എല്ലാം ഒറ്റ ശ്വാസത്തില്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞു!

"അതെ ഏട്ടാ"

"20 രൂപയല്ലേ. ഇതാ. (BG മ്യൂസിക്‌ ആയി ട്രെയിനിന്റെ ചൂളം വിളി). അയ്യോ, ട്രെയിന്‍ അതാ നീങ്ങിത്തുടങ്ങി! ഇന്നാ പിടിച്ചോ 20 രൂപ. വേഗം ഓടിക്കോ; ട്രെയിന്‍ മിസ്സ്‌ ചെയ്യേണ്ട"

ഒളിമ്പിക്സ് ദീപശിഖയേന്തി പി. റ്റി. ഉഷ ഓടുന്നതുപോലെ കടക്കാരന്റെ കയ്യില്‍ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്ന 20 രൂപയും പിടിച്ചു ഞാന്‍ ട്രെയിന്‍ ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കി ഓടി.

അങ്ങനെ ട്രെയിനും കിട്ടി, 20 രൂപയും കിട്ടി :))

 ഭാഗം: മൂന്ന്

ദിവസം: ജൂലൈ 4, 2011, തിങ്കളാഴ്ച വൈകുന്നേരം

വേദി: തിരൂര്‍ സ്റ്റേഷനിലെ നമ്മുടെ ആ പഴയ കാന്റീന്‍ തന്നെ

ഇന്ന് രാവിലത്തെ പാസ്സഞ്ചറില്‍ കോളെജിലേക്ക് പോയതെ ഉള്ളു; എന്നാല്‍ ആന്‍ ജെസ്സിയും ഞാനും പനി പ്രമാണിച്ച് വൈകുന്നേരത്തെ പാസ്സഞ്ചറില്‍ തിരിച്ചു കോഴിക്കോട്ടേക്ക്... ;) കൂടെ തിരൂര്‍ക്കാരനായ ഒരു സീനിയര്‍ ഏട്ടനും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു.

തിരൂര്‍ സ്റ്റേഷനില്‍ അവസാനമായി കാലു കുത്തിയിട്ട് കൃത്യം നാലു മാസമായി. ഏട്ടന്‍ ഇറങ്ങി. അന്നും വണ്ടി നിര്‍ത്തിയപ്പോള്‍ ഞങ്ങള്‍ ആ ചായക്കടയുടെ നേരെ മുന്നിലായിരുന്നു! ഞങ്ങള്‍ അന്യോന്യം നോക്കി.

"മോനേ... മനസ്സില്‍ ലഡ്ഡു പൊട്ടി!!!"

വീണ്ടും ട്രെയിനിന്റെ പുറത്തിറങ്ങി. കയ്യില്‍ 50 രൂപയുടെ നോട്ട്. ഔട്ട്‌ലെറ്റില്‍ പോയി രണ്ടു കാപ്പി ഓര്‍ഡര്‍ ചെയ്തു (ഇത്തവണ ഒരു ചെയിഞ്ചിന് കാപ്പിയാക്കി). കാപ്പി കൂട്ടിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ അയാള്‍ എന്നോട് ചോദിച്ചു,

"ഇതിനു മുന്നേ ഇവിടെ വന്നിട്ടുണ്ടോ?"

"ഉണ്ട്"

"അന്നൊരിക്കല്‍ ചായ ഓര്‍ഡര്‍ ചെയ്ത്, വാങ്ങിക്കാതെ പോയ..."

"(ഒരു ചമ്മിയ ചിരിയോടെ ഞാന്‍) അതെ, ആ 20 രൂപ പിന്നെ വന്നു വാങ്ങിച്ചു"

"ഓര്‍മ്മയുണ്ട് :) "

ഇയാള്‍ തന്നെയാണോ കഴിഞ്ഞ മൂന്നു പ്രാവശ്യവും ഇവിടെയുണ്ടായിരുന്നത്?

പിന്നെയും എന്തൊക്കെയോ പറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ട് അയാള്‍ കാപ്പി ആദ്യത്തെ ഗ്ലാസ്സിലേക്ക്‌ ഒഴിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ വണ്ടിയുടെ ചൂളം വിളി.

"ദാ, വണ്ടി എടുക്കുന്നു. വേഗം കയറിക്കോളൂ"

അതും പറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ട്  അയാള്‍ രണ്ടാമത്തെ കപ്പിലേക്ക് കാപ്പി ഒഴിച്ചു.

ഓരോ കയ്യിലും ഓരോ കപ്പുമേന്തി വീണ്ടും ട്രെയിന്‍ ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കി ഞാന്‍ ഓടി. പരാക്രമത്തിനൊടുവില്‍ ട്രെയിനില്‍ കയറിപ്പറ്റിയെങ്കിലും കപ്പില്‍ പകുതി കാപ്പി മാത്രമേ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നുള്ളൂ. എങ്കിലും പറയാതെ വയ്യ, നല്ല അസ്സല്‍ കാപ്പി!

പക്ഷെ പിന്നീടാണ് കയ്യില്‍ ചുരുട്ടിപ്പിടിച്ച 50 രൂപയുടെ കാര്യം ഓര്‍മ്മ വന്നത്......!!!

ഇനി അടുത്ത തവണ ആ കാന്റീനിനു മുന്നില്‍ വണ്ടി നിര്‍ത്തുമ്പോള്‍ കൊടുക്കാം. ഏതായാലും ആ ചായക്കടക്കാരന്റെയും ഞങ്ങളുടെയും ഇടയില്‍ ശക്തമായ ഒരു ആത്മബന്ധം ഉടലെടുത്തല്ലോ.

ഞങ്ങള്‍ വാങ്ങിയ കാപ്പിയുടെ കാശ് എന്നെങ്കിലും തിരിച്ചു കൊടുക്കുമെന്ന് അയാള്‍ക്കറിയാം :)

വിശ്വാസം... അതല്ലേ എല്ലാം......!!!