Lokee

Presented @ XConf, ThoughtWorks, Chennai

Until Friday morning, I had no clue how different that day going to be. I was lately notified that my parents had some plans for that evening. Sensing the end of bachelor life nearing sometime soon, I felt bit sad but was little anxious as it was the first of its kind in my life. I reached home bit early and was shocked to see everyone busy getting dressed up well for the ‘day’.

While my sister, nephew and niece were all dressed in new attire, I wore my usual short shirt and jeans. I was forced to change to some other color and couldn’t get exactly which one they actually mean. It was quite evident that guys can perceive only primary colors like red, blue. I honestly have no clue to differentiate between bluish gray and grayish blue. While I managed to please my sister and dad, there came my sister’s hubby who wanted me to dress in formals. At Thoughtworks wearing formals is almost an offense, if not, people will exchange strange looks. As my mom smilingly asserted (her usual way) that most of them were at laundry, my sister’s hubby offered his shirt. I said ‘no’ as it reminded me of Senthil’s match-making scene in Padayapa. Saying “enna vechu comedy panaleye”, I managed to wear random T Shirt no matter whatever people gonna say.

We took a cab and my sister started sharing her own experiences. It looks like she felt as if she were in an interview. Gist of the conversation she had with her husband when they met first:

· Where are you currently working at?

· What’s your plan 5 years down the line?

· Are you willing to relocate?

While she was bullying her husband for those first meet moments, I decided that I shouldn’t be making any of those same mistakes. But I had no clue what to ask or what not to either. Before thinking of something that I could ask or tell her, we reached girl’s home. Not any different from others, the girl’s brother got my company’s name wrong first time. ”What” works? --ThoughtWorks. (A usual question people ask when I tell them where I work.). It was already 9 PM. I was bit hungry and was expecting some Baji / Bonda, a common recipe particularly well known to be served on this event. To my disappointment, Baji/Bonda was not offered instead were treated with some snacks.

And that moment finally arrived. The girl turned up before us. Not sure if it is because of watching too many movies, I had rough idea about this event in mind. While I don’t really expect any girl to be too traditional, I was expecting a girl in sari. Eventually that expectation was ended up in vain too as she was in some salwar. While I thought that it is quite common nowadays to let girl have few words with guy, her father declared that girl had no queries. Oh no… No matter what so ever, since I was about to make decision purely based on conversation and coherence of thinking wavelengths, I had to buy some time for that.

With no much room for privacy (just few feets away from others and to make things worse my sweet nephew and niece were playing just circling us), I managed to talk for a while and things went off well. For the first time in life, felt that talking to a girl is a skill to master. Suddenly realized Santosh Subramaniam movie kind of thing happening. She seemed to be so much dependent on her father that when I asked her for mobile number I got a big “bulb”. She said she wanted to confirm with her father before sharing. As in my previous post, I like someone who is independent and has her own ideas & thoughts.

On contrary, I informed my parents about quitting Verizon only just few days before I joined ThoughtWorks. Neither have I consulted my parents for my travel, career and any day-to-day activities for that matter nor have they insisted anything. It looked as if we were brought up in extremely different environments. While returning home I was regretting for not pursuing proposals of x and y, which is exactly why I am going through all of these :)

I watched Swades again. Yes. I would have watched dozens of times. In particular, I liked the way Gayatri Joshi (Gitli / Geeta) was portayed: A matured girl with her own thoughts and ideas, too bold and witty. The way she converses with (SRK/ Mohan) is witty but at times romantic. [To put in local jargon, she gives lot of "bulbs" :)].

I have been long trying to understand the chants in Theendai Mei Theendai song from En Swasa Kaatre.

Nice BGM from Aan Paavam