My Age Meter

The day I turned fifty, a couple of my friends came home in the morning to wish me. They were both younger to me by months and hence were anxiously awaiting their golden birthday. One of them wanted to know if I felt old on having reached the Golden Age. I was kind of surprised for in my scheme of things, the modern fifty was equivalent to the thirty of yore. Not bothering to explain that logic, which is there for all the readers of my blog to read, I just told them that the one measure I use to calculate my age is my staircase. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t live on the 10th floor of a skyscraper that does not have a lift. I live in a two storey home where my bedroom is on the first floor. There are precisely nineteen steps to climb and even between these steps there are two landings. When that is the case, there is no reason for me to use the stairs as an yard stick for calculating my age as it is not at all an Herculean task. But the meter quotient is in the way in which I climb. I literally run up and down the stairs. My father who is invariably watching the television in the downstairs hall, hears the thud thud noise made by my feet and there is never a day when he does not comment on the same. He feels that the way in which I charge up and down, could bring about an accident. Thus my reply to my friends when elaborated went like this – the day I can’t climb the stairs, the way I always do, then that day on I would consider myself old.
It has been almost three years since that day and I am happy to say that I still climb or rather shall I say, charge up the stairs. With a bedroom and some other interests on the first floor and most of the mundane happenings on the ground floor, it is inevitable that the said stairs have to be manipulated atleast a dozen times in a day. There have been times when I must have done it more than a couple of dozen times. Every step in that flight of stairs is by heart to me and I know exactly as to the depth of each one of them. This mostly comes in handy during Vishu kanni, when I have to go down the stairs with my eyes closed and enter the pooja room to light the lamp. The staircase is so well embedded in my brain that I can reel off all its features including the number of steps to each landing like the back of my hand. Come to think of it, the staircase is the most used passage in the house as far as I am concerned.
There are innumerable reasons that makes the trips upstairs mandatory and of them all the least important happens to be the fact that my bedroom is situated there. The first and what was the foremost was the fact that I am the youngest adult in the house. I may have reached the golden age but that does not apply in my household where it is my duty to go up and look for things or fetch things which I have placed. Over the years I have trained Narayani and at times I get her to do these chores. Then there is this one household appliance which only I operate and this unfortunately has found a place on the first floor. So everytime a load of clothes have to be washed, I need to make a couple of trips. Then there are ofcourse the innumerable documents which are there for safe keeping and whenever they are required, yours truly has to charge up.
But what really made the trips to the first floor more frequent and enjoyable was the installation of the computer. Initially in 1999 when the computer was bought, it was the excitement of receiving emails and this made me go up atleast three or four times a day to check out if anyone in the whole wide world had anything important or silly to convey to me. Then I started getting smarter and began instant messaging to family and friends. Having them all over the world, I had to make frequent trips in order to catch up with their time zones. I was really excited that I could chat instantaneously with my sisters, cousins and host of friends at the same time. The fact that I learnt typing in my younger days helped me to maneouvre the keyboard of the computer with ease and thus I could manage upto three windows at a given point of time. Thus, almost every hour saw me come up to see as to who was out there for me to exchange news with. The final impetus with regard to the computer which made me increase my charge upstairs was when I started to maintain a blog. Anytime an idea came to my mind, I had to put it in print least I forgot the chain of thought. Kumar seeing my involvement with my writing, thought that it would be convenient if I had a laptop and thus got me one during the middle of last year. The laptop is fine as long as it is the IM, audio or video chat. However for writing my articles, nothing can replace my desktop which has a permanent place on the first floor. The quietness that the first floor offers helps me to think and I consider that corner a sacred one.
Thus the staircase is not only a passage, but it also provides an escape route from the all prevalent hustle and bustle that is “Sowparnika”. The nineteen steps opens the door to a totally serene environment centred mostly around my desktop PC and my sviwel chair. Topics for my blog just flash in my minds eye whenever I am seated there and it seems as if Godess Saraswati has her all pervading presence concentrated in this corner.
With writing having become a passion, there is no doubt that I would like to write as long as I can and this would definitely involve the climb upstairs. The best way I would like to do that is to charge, and thus remain young as far as my biological age goes. As for my mental age, I consider myself to be in my prime what with my writing and sudoku taking care of it.
P.S. If ever I feel that the charge is turning into a trot, I try to do whatever it takes to retain my favoured gait.

Paradise Isle

(This is a travelogue I wrote of a trip to Sri Lanka and was published in our Rotary Newsletter)

The seed was sown in the beginning of the Rotary year, however it bore fruit only in mid November when the members of the Rotary Club of Madras Midtown, finalised the plans for the first International outstation trip to our neighbouring Sri Lanka. It was decided that the trip would be from the the 4th of December to the 7th of December.
Thus the morning of the 4th saw the group which included Rotarians, Anns and Annettes and a couple of close friends assemble at the Anna International Airport at 4.30a.m. After the customary check in and immigration formalities we proceeded to the departure lounge and it was not long before the men turned left and did a thorough study of the Duty Free Shops and came out loaded with their favourite intoxicants. The group then boarded the Air India Express flight at 7.45a.m. and within an hour landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo.
The ride to Bentota which is 111 kilometres from the airport was an experience in itself. Club Bentota, the resort has the advantage of a wonderful location. It has the river on one side and the sea on the other. After a very traditional welcome the group dispersed to their assigned rooms with the orders from the President to meet for lunch at the fixed time. Lunch was a buffet service as was all the other meals. The restaurant which faced the river provided the perfect ambience for a relaxed meal. Having eaten to our hearts content, some of the group decided to take a siesta, whereas the others went on to explore the various facilities the place provided. The annettes, I must say had the best time ever. They were seen running all over the place, playing tennis, table tennis, beach volleyball and some were even trying their hands at billiards.
Towards early evening most of us moved to the beach and the next couple of hours until sunset, it was a wonderful interaction with sun, sand and surf. The waters played the perfect host and every member had a wonderful time enveloped by it. The enthusiasm and the energy levels of the members were so high that after sunset the session with water continued in the pool where there was a heated game of water polo. With local liquor, soft drinks and some short eats being part of the deal, there was no end to its flow. A glass seemed the favourite companion of both the men and the kids. Dinner saw another wonderful spread and following this there was entertainment in the form of a live band playing. A couple of Hindi songs were sung in honour of our group. I must say that the evening was indeed a treat and could not have got more perfect. What with the balmy breeze and almost a perfect moon, the wonderful music and good company one could not have asked for more. Once the DJ came on, the youngsters of the group took to the floor and shook more than their legs.
Day two started with a bang for the main activity of the morning was the water sports. The children went crazy seeing the Banana Boats and the Water Scooters. However this activity brought out the child in every adult. No one wanted to be left behind and thus all of us took part in both or atleast one of the activities. There were some mishaps/torpedoes both accidental and intentional and this I must say just added to the fun. The rest of the morning saw the men involved in flexing their biceps trying all kinds of combinations including the local toddy. The ladies had their own fun and the kids had a spirit which was indomitable. The feeling was one of happiness all round. I am sure everyone must have wished how wonderful it would be if we had such breaks at regular intervals. There was a repeat of our tryst with the sea, however on the second day the duration was longer and the experimenting more. The entertainment that evening was a laser show and the highlight of it was the participation of Gayatri, daughter of Rtn. Karthik, as a mermaid in the finale. The dancing that evening was really vigourous and the song that literally stole the show was our very own “Manmadha Rasa”.
The next morning the bags were packed and with a heavy heart we all left the Paradise Isle. The second part of our trip was a night at Colombo and thus we checked in at Hotel Galadari. This hotel is situated on the water front and thus has a beautiful view. After lunch we went on a sightseeing cum shopping trip. With most of the members interested in the latter, the sightseeing was cut short. However we did visit a Buddhist temple and did get to see the places of interest. The highlight was the visit to the House of Fashion. Seeing the enthusiasm of the group I was reminded of the English idiom, “Bull in a China Shop”. I am glad that the same enthusiasm was not displayed at the first store we visited for then we would have had to pay heavily for the damages that would have incurred. The store in question was the beautiful Noritake showroom. The evening saw the group involved in various activities. Some of the adults trooped into the disco at the hotel, others continued with their elbow exercise however it was the children who had their agenda planned out. They got together in one room and there was no doubt that they had a whale of a time.
All good things must come to an end and thus on the 7th morning the one thing that went through everyone’s mind was the question as to why the holiday should finish this quickly. The Kingfisher flight to Chennai was at 3.30p.m. and hence around noon we left for the airport. The good byes at the Chennai Airport were never ending. The consensus was that this was a holiday to be remembered and cherished. Although most of the group have visited places more exotic, the fun and good times enjoyed during this short break stood way above.
I thank the President for entrusting me with this travelogue, for it has given me the opportunity to relive those four enchanting days. I know that I have not done justice to whatever I experienced and enjoyed during my break. But then there is only so much that one can put on paper. The rest is something personal for the participant to relish and treasure.