Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Love Hurts

It is my last couple of weeks in Chennai now and I am growing increasingly paranoiac with each passing day. That I have fallen in love with this dusty, sweaty, over-polluted, hot and humid city is no secret to you all. And the more I write about how nice the city is the angrier few of the readers (especially those who hail from the North Indian states and don’t want to be called ‘Northie’) get. So I shall refrain from writing out my love for this great city and go back to writing what I know about – manager bashing, may be. But hey, I did that in my previous post and there is only so much I could crib about a bad manager when I know there are worse.

A couple of days back I was talking to this friend from my school days and as we were talking about life and career and stuff, I told him how much I hate this freaking IT job and how I am not tech-savvy and how awkward it feels when I am supposed to pretend to be an expert at something that I don’t know head or tail of. And then he asked me what my passion in life is. I was tempted to say, “My passion in life is to eat, sleep, read, write and shop – in that order. If anyone is going to pay me to do any of these, then that is the kind of profession I am looking at.” But he was not the kind who would appreciate my pathetic jokes. In the end I said something and he went on to give a lecture about how ‘passion’ is something that ‘doesn’t let you sleep’ and how it ‘keeps you charged’ all the time. After an hour or so of lecture, he hung up. But I had started thinking – is there anything I am really passionate about? Something that I keep thinking of all the time? Something that I want to do for the rest of my life? Something that is not eating, sleeping, reading, writing or shopping? After a couple of hours of thought, I gave up. May be I am not old enough to have a passion as yet. Well, who am I kidding? I should have a passion by now; I should be on my way to excel in it. Although I am so not Sidharth Mehra from ‘Wake Up Sid’ who lives life carefree, happy to be spending his father’s hard-earned money, I don’t think I am any better than him in realizing my potential or at least in knowing what I want to do with the rest of my life. Anyways, I am not going to write about finding my passion either.

By the way, the big fat ticket inspector from the MTC (to know more about this character read this) has made it a habit to harass everyone from school children to construction workers. I see him almost everyday sitting on his bike with his entourage of ticket checkers who I am very sure receive a part each of the “collection” and what am I doing there? Well, just standing and watching and writing about it on my blog. Sigh…

Well, finally what I want to say is: I love Chennai. Yes, despite such foul-language speaking MTC ticket checkers and even worse auto-walahs and the dirty beaches. I love this city and it kills me every time I think I have to move away.

21 comments:

  1. True. Very true. Love hurts us a lot when we try to move away from something that we loved or when we try to move away from something/someone which/who loved us. This post is mirroring some of my thoughts. Something seriously to think about.

    Nice post, Sandhya.

    Cheers !

    Bala

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  2. @Bala
    Thank you for commenting! :-)

    In my case, there are so many nice memories attached to Chennai that I may never experience in any other city and the friends I make in any other city may not be as good as the friends I have made here.

    Keep visiting!

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  3. Love hurts?! I don't think I want to talk about it!
    The way you started talking about passion I thought u had found it! Well it is thought provoking yes! I don't really know what my passion is either! Though I love football like crazy and label it my passion I'll never be able to choose a career path in it! That is something to contemplate about!
    Chennai is awesome! I still remember the 4 months I stayed there... though it had its dark side! the quick, moving and cosmopolitan culture definitely did make me want to move there! :-)

    Keep writing! I'll keep commenting! Cheers!

    Sriram

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  4. One more in the list of ppl who hasnt identified her passion, thats me :(

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  5. u might want to add another category- ppl who know wat they're passionate about, but hav no idea how to get to it....am sure i'll hav gud company here!!

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  6. @Sriram
    Exactly - sadly, we all are passionate about something or the other, but are not confident enough to make a career out of it.

    And Chennai is a great city, no doubt about that. Also, it is not like there is any city that doesn't have a dark side to it.

    @Swetha
    Join the club, girl... :-)

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  7. @celebrate your freedom

    Bang on! I belong there as well...
    Keep commenting!

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  8. that guy also seen Whats your Rashee..., Remember the scorpio PC speaks about passion, his comments were similiar.

    Guess what, I also figured out that "ThinkIn" cannot be ur passion as well.. u thought for sometime and then GAVE UP...


    Luv,
    Dhinu!

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  9. Knowing about one's own self is the most difficult thing in life.
    Agree with sriram.. I too am (some times)passionate about becoming an actor and a gr8 businessman too... But can't be sure of it..
    Apart from this after reading the the third paragraph,i felt that mentioning about the Big Fat Inspector wasn't required.Instead you should have briefed us why you love Chennai..

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  10. lolz
    u love chennai bec you get your needs easily and you hardly find times to enjoy This dusty, sweaty, over-polluted, hot and humid city :P, you got AC always in ur office cabin. so when do u find time to enjoy chennai heat :| aur Northie ke bare main maat bol :P , i am here for 15 yeARS N I LOVE CHENNAI :d MORE THAN MY HOMETOWN !!!

    WisH u N ur family HAppy DIWAli in ADvance :)
    enjoy ~~

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  11. @Dhinu
    Obviously, thinking is NOT my passion. I have already said - eating, sleeping, reading, writing and shopping (in that order) :-P

    @Shankar
    The thing is, I never go through what I have written, I just post it - so my posts are rather a flow of thoughts than a well-thought out and drafted and redrafted paragraphs. So, I couldn't help writing abt the BFTI instead of telling how much I love Chennai.

    I feel there is no need to reiterate the obvious! :-)

    @chunnu
    Well, I am not the typical IT girl (if that is the impression I gave you of me) coz I am not the one who confines myself to the coolness of my AC confines. Even at office I take a break every half an hour to get some sun (yes, I go out to the balcony to soak in some heat). And weekends at 11am to 1pm I sit at the beach (call me nuts, plz)

    Anyways, good to hear that you love Chennai despite your obvious language problems. Thumbs up for that!!! When I was telling about North Indians, I was only referring to a few of them who crib about and curse Chennai. Sigh... They can't be helped, can they? :-)

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  12. @Sandy
    U have to hear my story to know what I'm referring to as the dark side.

    Yes, but after hours of contemplation looking at the ceiling... I've found out that U cannot always go by your passion... you can only build on what u have got and by making it ur passion! :-)

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  13. @Shankar
    Thanks for agreeing with me! Finally someone has accepted to my views! :-P
    @Sandy
    Just temme if the BFTI is collecting money when the people have not made a mistake or...??
    @All
    Happy Diwali.. may the festival of lights... ignite or reignite the passion in you! :-)

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  14. @Sriram
    It is really tpugh to find out what your passion is and then pursue it, isn't it? Thank God, I thought I was the only one lagging behind. I have so many people for company.

    About the BFTI, he collects money only from people who don't have tickets. But he doesn't treat them as people. He uses the worst words possible and treats them like worms. That is what I hate.

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  15. @ Sandy
    Yes people who are confused like us are a plenty! Very few get to go by their dream! "Chance kadacha thaan Sachin Tendulkarae!" dialogue from Thiruvilayaadal Aarambam! Seems so right. But what we have to realize is what is within our means to achieve and what is reachable. Which can be our passion, Try to find that out! I think I have!

    Btw, I take a different stand, why do people travel without tickets! They can't buy tickets for mere single digit money but want to board a bus! They must be treated like worms!

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  16. Only blessed people can live in chennai, we are all not so blessed to be in this heaven of a place. I am sure there will be a day when I return to this paradise :). Good Luck for your moving into a new city.

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  17. @Sathish
    Thank you so much! And I hope, wish and pray that you come back to Chennai asap! :-)

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  18. I think it is better to be joker of all trades rather than being master of one !

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  19. y are u moving out of chennai , got a transfer?
    anyways when i had to move away from it, it was sad too!
    hmmmm and the thing abt passion, its nice to see that ur blogs echo my thots !
    i have gone to the extent of typing "how to find your passion" in google!
    i heard a song called "sunscreen" which is abt life.....just youtube it and see...it says that some gr8 ppl dont figure out wat to do even in their forties and some never..!lol ...
    when i tread the path of "wats my passion?" my system crashes into a infinte loop!
    love!

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  20. @Vinod
    That is one way of of looking at it. Ultimately we might make money and live luxuriously, but we won't be satisfied with life.

    @Anand
    Thank you for your continuing support. When I start thinking about "Passion" my system too kinda runs into an infinite loop :-D Will check out "sunscreen" song.

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  21. Hi Sandy...i will really miss you...There is one secret...despite all my problems i too love chennai...(Dont tell this to anyone)

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