Flash back-15 yrs ago-Nested Diary Entries

Flash back- 15 yrs ago, my perceptions about 02/14 as a 11 year old.
A blog, about a diary entry about a diary entry. A prerequisite knowledge that all the readers should possess before reading- Venkat was my one-year-older-than-me neighbor who went to the same school as I did. In other words, he was my senior in school and also my neighbor. The characters who narrate are.....
 
madras mokka- The blogger 
madras - The blogger when he was 11 yrs old
Venkat- Neighbor of madras(Venkat's diary entries are not his own entries. madras's imagination of Venkat's diary entries are written in this font and color)

FLASH BACK...

13th Feb 1997:
Dear Diary,
I think, the following is what Venkat will be conveying to his diary tonight and tomorrow evening.

"
13th Feb 1997:
Dear Diary,

There is something that I have not told (even)you till today. You know you are my best friend; and for the same reason, I hope you would forgive me for keeping this secret from you.


You know that I've always wondered why Mathematics is taught for a longer time than it should actually be taught for.Once the method is described, and an example is worked on the board, why should we repeat the same formula on different numbers many times. If we had saved all those minutes spent on repeating the routine, we would have had a lot more free periods/holidays or best- more games periods in school.This is how I have always felt.But this newly appointed Reshma ma'm has changed the way I look at this and the school in general. The first day she entered the class, I thought she was the substitute English teacher in-charge, covering for the absent Padma ma'm. She wrote ALGEBRA on the board and underlined it.I was shocked. I couldn't believe she was a Maths teacher. She didn't wear spectacles, she had long red nails. she had applied lip-stick and there was no sandal/vibuthi mark on her fore-head.She is so different from the other Math teachers. Everything she does has some grace about it. When she cleans the board in a hurry, that music from her bangles clinging on to each other caused by the hasty hand movement is melodious.One moment, she is near the first bench;then, suddenly she rushes to the board to write something.That quick turn makes a whiff off that divine scent so representative of her, glide through till the last bench in the room. The free hair is all over her face; and she clears it with so much grace that I could compare it only with a dozen flamingos dancing in unison. I wish she was our neighbour. I wish she was the only Maths teacher all along. I wouldn't have sulked when she borrows hours from English and Hindi teachers.I would have asked for 6 working days a week and at least 5 Math periods a day. I have one of her handkerchiefs that I stole when she was busy writing on the board. It has purple flowers printed on the white background with a pink border.



Raju mentioned that there is a new shop called Archies near our school. And he saw seniors buy heart shaped balloons, roses and cards from that shop that they were going to give to the girls they liked. I stayed in school till 6 in the evening at the playground and waited for the crowd to disappear around the school campus. And then walked into the store. I asked the shop keeper what was the most popular gift people were buying today and would my pocket money be sufficient to buy that. He gave me this red rose with a plastic skirt around its stem and a plain white card that has " I Love You" written in bright red on the inside. I am going to go early to school tomorrow- telling Appa that I have a cricket practice session. I am going to stand outside the staff room and wait for Reshma ma'm. Give this rose and card to her and run back to my classroom. Wish me goodluck. I am going to sleep early tonight. First thing tomorrow after I come back from school, I will tell you what happened. Sorry for not letting you know about this earlier.-Bye
Venkat..
"


Just because he is elder than me, Venkat thinks he knows a lot about this V-day and roses and cards. I think this is what his entry will be for tomorrow. And as I am about to continue writing, India lost another finals to SA- SBI ODI series.


"14th Feb 1997:Dear Diary,

Nothing worked as planned. Everything was a disaster. You remember how we lost the WC semifinals, from 98 for 1 to 120 for 8 at Eden gardens to Srilanka.That is how it was.I went to school at 7:30 today morning. Stopped near the temple. Prayed to lord Ganesha and then climbed the stairs and was waiting near the staff room for a long time.Finally, I spotted Reshma ma'm climbing the stairs. She was carrying a bag in her hand and couldn't climb the stairs comfortably. I ran to the stairs and offerred to help her by sharing the load she was carrying.She gave me a smile and handed over a small plastic bag and an umbrella to me. My heart was beating faster as she approached the staff room entrance and went near her seat. I also followed her to her seat. Lakshmi ma'm and Latha ma'm were also in the staff room. Reshma ma'm asked me- "Thank you very much. Why are you here Venkat ?" I replied- "I have a doubt in this sum where the denominator reads (x-x)-Isn't that a zero expression then ma'm? How to solve it ?" She looked into the textbook and said "Oh yeah, that is a printing mistake my child. Don't worry about it. I think it was meant to be a (x+x),printing mistake." Perfect timing-as this conversation lasted just long enough for Latha ma'm and Lakshmi ma'm to leave the room. I nervously reached for the rose and card from the front zip of my schoolbag and took it out.It felt like I just pulled the fuze of the hand grenade out and the explosion can happen any moment. I gave the rose and the card to Reshma ma'm and ran back to the class as if I was chased by 5 bull dogs.The last thing that I noticed before giving the rose to her was that the petals had dried and developed a maroon colour along the edges.
I entered the classroom and hurried my way on to my seat. I was sweating and panting. Vivek was sitting next to me. Though he noticed that something was strange,he didn't ask me anything.I was very anxious thinking about what would be running in Reshma ma'm's mind. The first period of the day was Math. With every step she marched towards the classroom, a new sweat gland kept getting activated in my body. She entered and every student stood up to wish her and then sat down. She took the attendance register, read the roll call out and walked near the board. The class proceeded like it usually would. She was very normal and conducted herself as if nothing happened. I, for a moment thought "did I give the rose and the card to some other teacher? This whole thing was a bad idea.God, please get me out of this trouble..Somehow!!". In a while, the bell rang marking that the first period got over.She looked at me after the class got over and smiled. As Latha ma'm entered the classroom for the next class, Reshma ma'm said " Latha, I am taking Venkat out for a few minutes." That's when one part of my problem was solved. I haven't given the rose to some other teacher.

She took me to the staffroom and said "See, Venkat. You are a good student. A smart boy. It is very common for a boy of your age to develop a crush on people from the opposite gender you see. But it becomes destructive if you get distracted. Take your mind off it and concentrate on studies and the cricket tournament that starts in a couple of weeks. I will not complain about this to the principal or your parents." She gave a friendly pat on my head asked me to get back to the classroom. I experienced a huge sigh of relief on my way back to the classroom.I took small steps in walking towards my classroom-very different from how I entered the classroom the first time today morning. I was glad that it didn't get any worse and returned to my seat. The rest of the day passed by just thinking in how many different ways things could have gotten worse and how lucky was I to escape from all of them.

The final bell of the day rang, and everyone was getting ready to leave the classroom. I slowly dragged my feet outside the classroom and was walking towards the exit, thinking about the events of the day. Suddenly, I heard the peculiar tap noise of Reshma mam's sandals. The tempo was a little higher but yet I could recognize that distinct sound pattern of her getting down the stairs. Though, everything was over, I was interested in knowing why she was hurrying her way out of the building. I have never seen her do that. I followed her from a safe distance and still managed to trace her movement. She went out of the school gates and ran to the corner of the street and stopped near a blue Kinetic Honda.The number plate read TN09 5645. The man sitting on that vehicle removed his helmet and got down off it.He had brown hair, a thick moustache, a golden bracelet on his left hand. His hair style and built looked very much like Ramki,the yesteryear hero of Tamil Cinema. Reshma ma'm gave him a hug and put his helmet back on his head and sat behind him on the pillion. I couldn't control a trickling tear from my left eye as I saw her move away speedily on the motorized vehicle.I wish I hadn't followed her to only get my heart broken. That curiosity did kill me.-Bye
Venkat
"

I know it is quite possible that something like this can happen to Venkat tomorrow. Though I don't like him dominating me, I don't want anything bad to happen to him. He may be elder than me; but he fails to realise the fact that I have an elder brother(6 years older than me and 5 years older than Venkat)who can guide me with his advice and experience to handle such situations. Anna introduced me to the word Infac-chuation . when he came home for the winter break between semesters. Sorry sorry it is spelled as infatuation. He says it is very common for students of our age to have a crush on one of our classmates or teachers who we meet on an everyday basis. But, we should stay away from being distracted by that, else it becomes very dangerous for our studies. It is better to spend a lot of time on studies and hobbies to get out of such thoughts.

-madras
o__
_>/ _
(_)\(_)


14th Feb 1997:
Dear Diary,

I think, we were being very creative yesterday. Nothing eventful happened in the school today, but for this- I walked close to the dustbin(of our classroom) to spit the gum I was chewing. To my surprise, I saw a rose and a card in the classroom's dustbin. I didn't assume anything.

-madras
o__
_>/ _
(_)\(_)


Till date, I have never spoken anything about this to Venkat. I just like to think that certain things happened. It was nice to recollect that this is what I had imagined 15 years ago to............. get over my crush. And Shhhhhhhh!! till date, my diary doesn't know about this first crush.

-madras mokka

Adam, in the Prospect

The beauty of evolution is that it is a gradual process; but the drawback is that- sometimes we are caught napping midst the slow proceedings when the natural selection demands a societal change. The concept in Boolean algebra that is the closest to evolution is---- Karnaugh map. The change of state representation is very gradual and smooth- 00 01 11 10(note that 11 precedes 10). Little did I realize, it had so much to do with the human life cycle, till a couple of days ago.The moment this realization hit me hard, I felt like a prophet and accepted the self imposed responsibility to spread the word. 00: When the first batch of men and women walked on earth, natural resources were abundant. You just had to stay awake around a meal time to avoid starving.That is how easy sustenance was(no one had to "seek"). No one had to work;in fact no one knew "work."This,I define as 00. No woman worked; no man worked.

01: Then came a phase when natural resources were slowly getting depleted. Satiating hunger started involving some voluntary action called gathering food or sometimes hunting.This turned out to be a defining moment in evolution. Sometime during the fag end of 00, women secretly met and decided that- in the event that resources dry up, we somehow make it the responsibility of the man to find food and make sure the family survives.Women of this period were stubborn and determined in executing their secret code.This batch of staunch women were clinical in incepting the thought that man should win the bread(Later they would "create" folklore around manufatured principles like Udhyogam Purusha Lakshanam).Men had to start working. Men who rebelled this set up, didn't have(or lost) families. They were skimmed and ignored as outcasts. It became an ultimatum of the day-Men should work. The only solace, rested in the fact that other men had to work too. This, ladies and gentlemen I define as 01. No woman worked; Men started working.

11:

Several years after men started working, there crawled a gradient in their earning potentials. Some men became more productive than the others and started to bring home more goods when they returned from work compared to others. These men, not only inflicted harm on other men by raising the bar, but also became cocky with their power to provide- It translated into attempting to dominate and ill-treat their spouses. Just like a crook saved the fictitious Pumplesdrop during an economic downturn, some hardworking prick(s) a.k.a more capable men ruined life for other mortal (jestu passu)workers. At one end, the needs were growing like weeds;the middle-class clan started embracing luxuries and gradually standardized them as basic necessities. At the other end, these oppressed women(spouses of highly capable men) felt the need to neutralize their husbands. Economic prowess and financial independence seemed like the path to take to achieve that. Words like equality, women rights, egalitarianism, liberation and emancipation spread like a virus. Thus, these mega needs and social equality impended women entering work places. This, my friends marked the beginning of the 11 era. Women worked; Men worked

Future: ??

Some where in the evolution, human beings developed this habit of selectively responding to premonitions. That's when they became sensitive to global warming, recycling plastic, awareness about soon to be extinct species, acid rain,conservation of fossil fuels, ozone layer depletion and all the buzz that surrounds paper-less bank statements. Never did they stop and think about the the next evolutionary step in the human life cycle even though the warning alarms were anything but subtle; they are in fact, louder than the loudest rock band. The evils of of the current 11 regiment are too many.

With both the husband and wife working, there is no quality time and effort spent on the bringing up of children. Stress levels have reached new heights. Domestic violence is prevalent(which gender gets abused is a totally debatable topic worth another blog). Premature divorces are so common; that, now divorces are trending towards becoming premarital. What a hazardous situation are we living in. It is time to step up and promote 10. Women working; Men not working.

Why 10 is the need of the hour and some vibrant signs:

a)Look how much women have transcended. They have entered work places(with the advent of 11) that were once meant only for men. They started wearing men's clothes. They have gone to space, become presidents,manage companies, run schools and what not. It's high time we start entering territories that they have had exclusive control of(at least once upon a time). We should be at home, kitchen, watch mega serials, spend a lot of time with the kid, and run other such errands. I have always felt, just like Autokaarar.. .Rickshawkaarar. .Paalkaarar..Veetukaarar. ...Home Maker should also refer to a man. If you want to sound cool make it H2(H-square)-House Husband.

b)A trend that has been observed in the last 17 years- the pass% and aggregate distribution of class X and class XII results have showed that female students fair better compared to male students. Another noteworthy observation-Harsha Bhogle and Indra Nooyi were classmates. Indra Nooyi went on to become the CEO of PEPSI FOODS, whereas Harsha Bhogle makes a living by writing skewed cricket articles and Abhangs about popular cricketers. I think men should be the bigger people here and not be interested in academics and corporate set ups anymore.

c)Motherhood has been receiving a lot of mention and appreciation in art, literature and religion because of the mothers' role in their child's growth and development.Probably, if men spend most of their(or all their)time at home they will have the opportunity to make a mark for fatherhood.

d)Women should have their cycle of fun too- for eg: male infanticide, adam teasing, women tying the knot,men living with their in laws,sata(male version of sati) and more.

Imagine the sight of 10 men marching side by side towards a school, taking lunch for their children. Feeding them sitting under a tree. And then,stay there, hang out with other dads and discuss bikes, cine star gossips, hot models in place of an afternoon siesta. Wouldn't that be heaven on earth.

Now the ball is in the men's court. Do we want to resist this important evolutionary step; or be alert in spotting the cues and indulge in the transformation. Do we want to be the typica or the carbonaria ?? Who knows, this positive step may put us back to the most coveted 00 in the cycle. What is more special than asking your lady love on your knees "Will you take me as your (house) husband."

-madras mokka