‘Paattam 3. TVM Sarvakalashala

The fun PDC crowd in TVM was distributed among Womens’,Arts and Mar Ivanios. ‘The’(read as 'theee') colleges to study in TVM. With all due respect to the other colleges, sorry me and my besties went to these three JWhile the normal crowd chose colleges specifically Pre Degree Course (PDC in short) soon after the 10^th Board, the up-normal stayed back in schools itself for ‘+2’..

They say Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. But I say Men are from Arts and Women are from Womens’ and Mar Ivanios had best of the two worlds. Stupendous places to learn, unlearn, live, love..basically enjoy life J

The ‘inimitables’ of the three colleges comes next. Old n beautiful buildings, studious gals, brilliant teachers, the Music department, 100yr old Peepal trees and lunches under their shades, celestial beauties, closeness to Tagore and Kalabhavan theaters, the film festivals..huh..pretty much describes Womens’ college. Proximity to Womens’, Neelakandan sir, the SFIs and the ABVPs, brainy boys, musicians, violinists, pianists, singers and strikes are the specialties of Arts. Interesting things are attached to Mar Ivanios also, the MILF, Panchara corner, the Principal ‘Acchchan’,performers and all-rounders, amazing campus, aspiring models and successful musicians…etc etc.

We all met at Mahadeva Iyer's(Physics Tution), Krishna Iyer's(Maths Tution), Hotch Potch, Pot Pourri, Film Festivals and Youth Festivals…We danced, winked, debated, made music, yapped, fought, eyed, cheered, hooted, lost, won.. lived basically J We even won prizes for singing our National Anthem in our best voices. Inspiring isnt it?

Malayalam was d universal language in our Sarvakalashala..Girl or boy, everyone was addressed as ‘da’. Lalettan movies were a craze..Ravindran sir and Devarajan sir were our music Gods. A R Rehman and Mani Ratnam were also worshipped by a sect. We wept for, laughed at and memorized every dialogue of Priyadarshan, Fazil, Padmarajan and Siddique Lal movies.

Our signoff line was always: ‘tatta datta ta tta ta..eya oowah’ ….u can fill in the blanks, cant you? J

‘Maram-Vandi-Maddhalam stories’

‘Paattam 2. 'Thirondhoram Bhasha urff TB’

‘Thirondhoram’ is Trivandrum fondly pronounced by us TVMites and ‘Thirondhoram Bhasha, (abbreviating to TB for ease) is an expression of our love for the Capital city. TB is witty, alluring, enduring and invites a lot of emulations by big, small, ugly, beautiful, girl, boy, woman, man, rich, poor, ..basically all. We are known and envied by rest of the God’s own country people just coz of TB J. Sometimes we try to borrow accents from central and north Kerala, but a few indispensable phrases like ‘entharappi’,‘vellangalokkey kudicha’, ‘ssalley’, ‘pilley’, 'eppo paranjennu kttamathi', ‘wollathuthanney’ just wouldn’t allow that. I am using this opportunity to thank our Superstars Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi for making TB a World renowned language. Proud of you guys! Nothing for charity please; ‘oru paalamittal angottum ingottum venamennanallo’, so TB has won many awards and accolades for them in return too. TB has a strong character. It is distinct, in-your-face, ‘straight’ and intelligent. New recruits to TB, go watch ‘Rajamanickam’. Immensely educative it is haan! ‘Thalley, all the best kyetta’.

Mr. Suraj Venjarammood’s contribution to TB is highly commendable. Almost all his movies exuberate TBs brilliance. If there is an Oscar for language propagation, it’s his, hands down! ‘Yevan verum puliyalladey, puppuliyanu…pinnallathey’. 'Jesst rememberrr thattu' (in typical Suresh Gopi style with CBI Diary Kuruppu background music)

Lalettan zindabad, mammukka zindabad…ippo surajum zindabad.

To be continued……

‘Paattam 1. Khidilam idea’

 Was sipping to a Latte @ one of the COSTA Coffee’s in Doha. That is when the star (s)trek me, that Giant robot walked towards me, Mayavi ran into me, Poombatta sat on my shoulder, Kapeesh started mocking me and Shikari Shambu fell on me ‘dhapp’…n then a lot of mumble rumble happened. After much deliberation I said ‘ok’ to all of them. Then came the ‘khidilam idea’.

I am dedicating this piece to the place that made me. Full love to you J. Tri-Van-Drum or like my ‘Thaatha’ (grandpa) used to say ‘Maram-Vandi-Maddhalam’

What was I waiting for all this time? Bhagavante oro leelavilasangaley!

I was born here. In a typical ‘pattaru’ (tam-bram) family. I still remember ‘maamaamai’ (my granny) saying ‘naan unnai first time parka vallay, because u were a girl. I wanted a grandson. Ana ippo, I cant even think of a day without talking to you’. This was way back in 2003, the year she left me L

I played, monkeyed, fooled around, befriended, gathered enemies,  schooled, learned, fought, fantasized, got involved, infatuated. I lived, loved, hated, ate, sang, danced, mocked, bullied, faulted..I was accepted, evicted, pulled, pushed, mesmerized, punished, rewarded, respected.. I laughed, cried, gave, took, saw, viewed, spoke, heard, walked, ran, jumped, dumped, hummed… and finally left the place for good! I mean what more could i ask for.. Still I left it..Never to return for better?

‘Oru vattam koodiyen ormakal meyunna thirumuttathethuvan moham…’

To be continued..