On 12th September 1986, at some time of the day, a baby girl was born to Mrs. Vijaya Ramachandran and Mr. A.K.Ramachandran. Their elder daughter, Lakshmi Ramachandran, was thrilled to see her younger sister. They named the little girl Vidya Ramachandran- a nice, decent, non-weird name, and she was lovingly called Ammu at home.
A nice, small family. Their only bother was that Vidya suffered from chronic asthma, and 29-and-a-half days out of the month, she was in the hospital. When she turned four, they put her in nursery. Her green colour identity card read ‘Vidya Ramachandran’ very proudly.
After kindergarten, it was time to enroll her in school. But she didn’t have a birth certificate yet. So Mr. Ramachandran went, all by himself, to get it done. He got it done, and waved the birth certificate proudly in front of his wife’s face once he was back. She also excitedly took it, and then froze a second later.
“What’s this??!!”
“Her birth certificate."
“But..but…!!! Her name!!”
The birth certificate now declared their daughter as Divya Nambiar.
“Oh ya, I changed it.” Just like that, cool as a cucumber.
“You changed our daughter’s name??!! How??!! And most importantly, why?!”
“Well, if it’s Vidya, her name will be towards the end in the alphabetical order. She’ll be picked last in everything. I didn’t want that. And the surname, well, we are Nambiar’s anyway, so I thought I’ll add that.”
And that’s how, Divya Nambiar became the only non-Ramachandran in the Ramachandran household.
And that’s also why, when asked her father’s name during her Kendriya Vidyalaya interview, Divya blanked out and said “I don’t know”.
What followed was years of solving the question mark that formed on people’s faces when they realized that she and her sister didn’t share the same surname, millions of “Yes, we are sisters. Real sisters!”, patiently retelling the ‘A.K.Ramachandran and his daughter’s birth certificate’ story a thousand times, reassuring everyone that “No, I’m not adopted. It was just a momentary lapse of reason on my dad’s part”, a failed attempt to change her surname to Ramachandran, only to be told by teachers that after so many years, who really cares (Sigh…)
So here it is, up for posterity.
Yes I’m her sister, dammit!!! BLOOD SISTER!!!
March 28, 2011
March 26, 2011
A love story...
It wasn’t love at first sight, I don’t believe in it anyways.
It began in 2007, that’s when we first met. A chance encounter in the month of June. Little did I know that it was just the beginning. We met again in August, with the sound of rain serving as the background score.
It began as just any other love story- with instant dislike. I didn’t like him, and I wasn’t exactly planning to spend the rest of my life with him. He wasn’t even an important factor in my life- just a temporary item that I had to put up with, till brighter pastures came my way.
But you know how it is with love. It is quirky. And stubborn. The more you try to resist it, the harder it’ll cling on to you. So it was with us. As I got to know him better, I realised, that he’s not so bad after all. He was not perfect, true, but then I’ve never liked perfection in the first place. He had his negatives, and they quite clearly outnumbered the positives. Heck, I wasn’t even ready to consider the good side of him initially.
Then I slowly started to acknowledge him, grudgingly. He was nice to me, and was trying hard to accommodate me. How could I ignore that? He was patient with me, allowing me to take my time to accept him. And he was very honest with me. He didn’t hide his ugly side just to get into my good books. He had shown his true colours right from the beginning, and the colours that seems garish and ugly to me initially, started to look better after a few months.
And so we carried on, for two years. It wasn’t a very stormy relationship- it was quite, calm, exciting(mainly owing to the novelty factor), with occasional fights when I got disillusioned with his negative streak. It was the kind of relationship that comes with an expiry date, and both parties were aware of it right at the onset. And maybe it was because of that, both of them tried not to get too attached to each other.
But as the expiry date drew closer, the pangs started. I knew I had to leave him soon, and the thought started to gnaw at me. Sure, it wasn’t like I was desperately in love with him, but we had reached a comfort level by now, one that you get only when you’ve seen the nastiest side of each other, but are still willing to accept each other with all that. He was also sending me signals, that he doesn’t want me to go, just as yet, to give him another chance, but I knew I was not meant to be his forever. So I made plans to leave. We prepared ourselves for the inevitable.
But we hadn’t considered the entry of a very cunning character at this juncture- Fate. Actually, correction. Re-entry of Fate, because She is the one who had brought us together in the first place. So Fate re-entered our lives, and decided that this love story will come to an end only when She decides it, not us. I didn’t leave. I stayed on. I figured, I gave him two years, one more won’t hurt.
And that’s when I really fell in love with him. Till now, I had shut my mind to him as an option, because I wasn’t aware that he was an option at all. But once I opened my eyes a bit wider, I could see him for all his splendour. He too accepted me with open arms, and though we didn’t make any promises to spend the rest of our lives together, we knew that would be together for quite some time. Or at least until Fate intervenes again.
Now we have reached a different level of comfort. And familiarity. We have accepted each other for whatever we are, and neither of us tries to change the other. Sometimes we can’t stand each other, but for the most part, we’re crazy about each other. He has grown on me now. He makes me happy. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, but he never gives up on me or tries to send me away. I can’t imagine going away from him, starting my life with someone else. It wouldn’t be impossible, but it would be hard.
And that’s the love story of me and Hyderabad. Almost four years of a love-hate-love relationship, but still going strong, nevertheless. Be it the unbearable heat, the dirty monsoon, or the biting cold, I still love the city.
Sometimes, you just can’t challenge Fate.
It began in 2007, that’s when we first met. A chance encounter in the month of June. Little did I know that it was just the beginning. We met again in August, with the sound of rain serving as the background score.
It began as just any other love story- with instant dislike. I didn’t like him, and I wasn’t exactly planning to spend the rest of my life with him. He wasn’t even an important factor in my life- just a temporary item that I had to put up with, till brighter pastures came my way.
But you know how it is with love. It is quirky. And stubborn. The more you try to resist it, the harder it’ll cling on to you. So it was with us. As I got to know him better, I realised, that he’s not so bad after all. He was not perfect, true, but then I’ve never liked perfection in the first place. He had his negatives, and they quite clearly outnumbered the positives. Heck, I wasn’t even ready to consider the good side of him initially.
Then I slowly started to acknowledge him, grudgingly. He was nice to me, and was trying hard to accommodate me. How could I ignore that? He was patient with me, allowing me to take my time to accept him. And he was very honest with me. He didn’t hide his ugly side just to get into my good books. He had shown his true colours right from the beginning, and the colours that seems garish and ugly to me initially, started to look better after a few months.
And so we carried on, for two years. It wasn’t a very stormy relationship- it was quite, calm, exciting(mainly owing to the novelty factor), with occasional fights when I got disillusioned with his negative streak. It was the kind of relationship that comes with an expiry date, and both parties were aware of it right at the onset. And maybe it was because of that, both of them tried not to get too attached to each other.
But as the expiry date drew closer, the pangs started. I knew I had to leave him soon, and the thought started to gnaw at me. Sure, it wasn’t like I was desperately in love with him, but we had reached a comfort level by now, one that you get only when you’ve seen the nastiest side of each other, but are still willing to accept each other with all that. He was also sending me signals, that he doesn’t want me to go, just as yet, to give him another chance, but I knew I was not meant to be his forever. So I made plans to leave. We prepared ourselves for the inevitable.
But we hadn’t considered the entry of a very cunning character at this juncture- Fate. Actually, correction. Re-entry of Fate, because She is the one who had brought us together in the first place. So Fate re-entered our lives, and decided that this love story will come to an end only when She decides it, not us. I didn’t leave. I stayed on. I figured, I gave him two years, one more won’t hurt.
And that’s when I really fell in love with him. Till now, I had shut my mind to him as an option, because I wasn’t aware that he was an option at all. But once I opened my eyes a bit wider, I could see him for all his splendour. He too accepted me with open arms, and though we didn’t make any promises to spend the rest of our lives together, we knew that would be together for quite some time. Or at least until Fate intervenes again.
Now we have reached a different level of comfort. And familiarity. We have accepted each other for whatever we are, and neither of us tries to change the other. Sometimes we can’t stand each other, but for the most part, we’re crazy about each other. He has grown on me now. He makes me happy. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, but he never gives up on me or tries to send me away. I can’t imagine going away from him, starting my life with someone else. It wouldn’t be impossible, but it would be hard.
And that’s the love story of me and Hyderabad. Almost four years of a love-hate-love relationship, but still going strong, nevertheless. Be it the unbearable heat, the dirty monsoon, or the biting cold, I still love the city.
Sometimes, you just can’t challenge Fate.
March 23, 2011
I write...
I write about my childhood,
What happened in my girlhood.
I write about not being fair,
How I miss my long hair.
I can't write about politics,
It puts me in a fix.
I don't write about world issues,
Oh how I want a new pair of shoes.
Weird and me go hand-in-glove,
I've been a bitch and I've been in love.
I write about my mom and I playing Scrabble,
Basically, I just ramble...
What happened in my girlhood.
I write about not being fair,
How I miss my long hair.
I can't write about politics,
It puts me in a fix.
I don't write about world issues,
Oh how I want a new pair of shoes.
Weird and me go hand-in-glove,
I've been a bitch and I've been in love.
I write about my mom and I playing Scrabble,
Basically, I just ramble...
March 16, 2011
Untitled...
My love is true,
Like the mountains’ hue.
Like the bird's-eye view.
Like the wind that blew.
Blue, the sky so bright
The clouds so white,
Terrors of the night
A word’s might.
Words that I dread
Relationships that are dead
The hearts that bled
At the things they read.
Red, the colour of love.
And of rage, they go hand-in-glove.
Emotions pure as a dove,
That thing called love.
Love, it’s a strange thing.
It’ll make your heart sing,
Tears that make your eyes sting,
Many are the emotions it’ll bring.
Like the mountains’ hue.
Like the bird's-eye view.
Like the wind that blew.
Blue, the sky so bright
The clouds so white,
Terrors of the night
A word’s might.
Words that I dread
Relationships that are dead
The hearts that bled
At the things they read.
Red, the colour of love.
And of rage, they go hand-in-glove.
Emotions pure as a dove,
That thing called love.
Love, it’s a strange thing.
It’ll make your heart sing,
Tears that make your eyes sting,
Many are the emotions it’ll bring.
March 14, 2011
Killer Serial
There used to be a time when I watched a whole lot of Hindi serials, right from ‘Hip Hip Hurray’ to ‘Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi’. Actually, obsessively followed, is more like it. Thankfully, I grew out of that phase. Yes, I still obsessively watch FRIENDS, but I don’t consider it in the same category.( If you do, too bad. Sue me.)
One thing that is quite common with many of these soaps is their title. Their mile-long titles that have been borrowed (or ‘inspired’, as they like to say it) from the lyrics of yesteryears’ songs. ‘Agale janam mohe bitiya hi keejo’, ‘Main tulsi tere aangan ki’, ‘Thoda hai thode ki zaroorat hai’, etc. I can’t think of anymore, maybe because the titles were too long to remember. (Is it immense love for all those songs, or sheer lack of originality?)
So I thought, why not borrow titles of some popular English songs, and then write up my own plots for them? Humour me, will ya?
# Coming back to life(Pink Floyd)- The hero dies. Then comes back to life. The heroine dies. Then comes back to life. The hero’s Papa, Mummy, Chacha, Chachi, Nana, Nani, Taya, Tai all die. And they come back to life. Right. You get the picture.
# Comfortably numb (Floyd again): No particular plot. It just has to be mind-numbingly stupid. That shouldn’t be too hard.
# You are my dancing queen (ABBA): A dance-based reality show where all the men are dressed as women. (Err..no offence to any particular community).
# Brown girl in the rain(Boney M): The main protagonist is a dark-skinned girl, and the opening shot will show her standing in the rain, getting drenched because no autos or taxis will stop for her, owing to her dark skin. Then she uses fairness creams to lighten her skin, after which she has no dearth of autos and taxis stopping for her.
# Ma Baker(Boney M): The protagonist is a 40-year-old single mother whose husband left her and now she runs a bakery where a lot of happy, smiling, annoyingly-optimistic youngsters hang out, and she’s like a mother hen to all. The bakery will be named ‘Ma’s Bakery’.
# Come on baby light my fire (The Doors): The hero is a fireman. He rescues the heroine from a burning building. Thus starts their ‘lou affair’.
# With or without you (U2): The heroine is dead. The hero can see and talk to her ghost (I refuse to call it a spirit), ala Mohabbatein.
# Time of your life ( Greenday): A sci-fi serial where the characters travel around in a time-capsule, and their adventures. They will wear garish silver colour costumes made of silver craft paper( like the ones we used for our school SUPW projects) and headdresses made of curtains.(Actually, I might want to act in one of these. Just to wear the trendy clothes.)
# Larger than life (Backstreet Boys): Story of a man who is huge, like a giant. Starring the Great Khali.
# Dark side of the moon (Umm..Floyd again, I’m afraid): A young, much-in-love couple meet by the moonlight everyday, and only by the moonlight. Two episodes later, the girl is pregnant. (Yes, apparently, holding hands can get you pregnant).
# Top of the world(The Carpenters): The opening shot will be of the heroine trying to jump off the top of a building to commit suicide, but the hero, a stranger, rescues her.(Don’t ask me how he got there. Does it look like I’m talking logic here?). And they live happily ever after. On the top floor of a building.
# Words (Boyzone): The hero is a writer of dictionaries. Rest is all irrelevant.
# Frozen (Madonna): Story of a company that manufactures freezers. Arch rivals steal their secret! Will they be able to save the formula, or will their dreams remain forever frozen?
Coming soon, on your favourite channel.
(If you've got worse PJ's to contribute, please feel free to use my comment box)
One thing that is quite common with many of these soaps is their title. Their mile-long titles that have been borrowed (or ‘inspired’, as they like to say it) from the lyrics of yesteryears’ songs. ‘Agale janam mohe bitiya hi keejo’, ‘Main tulsi tere aangan ki’, ‘Thoda hai thode ki zaroorat hai’, etc. I can’t think of anymore, maybe because the titles were too long to remember. (Is it immense love for all those songs, or sheer lack of originality?)
So I thought, why not borrow titles of some popular English songs, and then write up my own plots for them? Humour me, will ya?
# Coming back to life(Pink Floyd)- The hero dies. Then comes back to life. The heroine dies. Then comes back to life. The hero’s Papa, Mummy, Chacha, Chachi, Nana, Nani, Taya, Tai all die. And they come back to life. Right. You get the picture.
# Comfortably numb (Floyd again): No particular plot. It just has to be mind-numbingly stupid. That shouldn’t be too hard.
# You are my dancing queen (ABBA): A dance-based reality show where all the men are dressed as women. (Err..no offence to any particular community).
# Brown girl in the rain(Boney M): The main protagonist is a dark-skinned girl, and the opening shot will show her standing in the rain, getting drenched because no autos or taxis will stop for her, owing to her dark skin. Then she uses fairness creams to lighten her skin, after which she has no dearth of autos and taxis stopping for her.
# Ma Baker(Boney M): The protagonist is a 40-year-old single mother whose husband left her and now she runs a bakery where a lot of happy, smiling, annoyingly-optimistic youngsters hang out, and she’s like a mother hen to all. The bakery will be named ‘Ma’s Bakery’.
# Come on baby light my fire (The Doors): The hero is a fireman. He rescues the heroine from a burning building. Thus starts their ‘lou affair’.
# With or without you (U2): The heroine is dead. The hero can see and talk to her ghost (I refuse to call it a spirit), ala Mohabbatein.
# Time of your life ( Greenday): A sci-fi serial where the characters travel around in a time-capsule, and their adventures. They will wear garish silver colour costumes made of silver craft paper( like the ones we used for our school SUPW projects) and headdresses made of curtains.(Actually, I might want to act in one of these. Just to wear the trendy clothes.)
# Larger than life (Backstreet Boys): Story of a man who is huge, like a giant. Starring the Great Khali.
# Dark side of the moon (Umm..Floyd again, I’m afraid): A young, much-in-love couple meet by the moonlight everyday, and only by the moonlight. Two episodes later, the girl is pregnant. (Yes, apparently, holding hands can get you pregnant).
# Top of the world(The Carpenters): The opening shot will be of the heroine trying to jump off the top of a building to commit suicide, but the hero, a stranger, rescues her.(Don’t ask me how he got there. Does it look like I’m talking logic here?). And they live happily ever after. On the top floor of a building.
# Words (Boyzone): The hero is a writer of dictionaries. Rest is all irrelevant.
# Frozen (Madonna): Story of a company that manufactures freezers. Arch rivals steal their secret! Will they be able to save the formula, or will their dreams remain forever frozen?
Coming soon, on your favourite channel.
(If you've got worse PJ's to contribute, please feel free to use my comment box)
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