Woke up at 4AM today. Cyclerun 2004 Time. This was after just 3.5hours of sleep after an exhausting dance party.

Ti cycles came up with this cool idea of bringing Chennai's cyclists together. Me just had to be there. I wanted to take my cycle along, so I cycled to the Island Grounds venue. Its quite interesting to note the activity on the roads at 5AM on a Sunday morning. The beach road was flooded and these guys weren't there for the cycle rally. They were just there, like every other day, it seemed ! I guess its only us Engineers who like to wake-up late on Sundays.

I got to the venue at 5:45AM. There must've been a queue of about 500 ppl., ready to pedal. We were supposed to be at the venue at 6AM. But the gates didn't open till quite late. There was chaos. Absolute chaos. When I checked the time again, it was 7:30AM, and I was trying to get my cycle in for the registration. Perhaps, the next time they do it, the organizers will know how to make better use of the 150 security guards and another 100 clueless volunteers, they had at the venue.

There was one gentleman with his kid from Scotland. He brought his Cannondale for the 24km rally ! The bike was a beautiful yellow. I brought along Ashu's Hercules Tracer. Pretty smooth bike.

They roped in Kapil Dev, Dhanraj Pillay, Ruby Bhatia and the actress from 'Manmadha Rasa' - Chitra Singh. That's Chithra in Tamil Nadu ! Mr. R. Nataraj, CoP, Chennai did the first flag-off.

I didn't get riding till 8:30AM. The sun was up. It was beginning to get hot. But 'twas fun. The path was well planned. There were cops all along the way to direct us. Never felt this special before. Didn't stop at any of the intersections. This time all other traffic stopped for us. Loads of curious onlookers. Most ppl appeared to know that something was going on. Yeah what ? Cycle race ?

My partners on the ride were a retired Bank Manager and a Chartered Accountant who's into modelling. Bikers all of us !

Mandakini Hostel, a.k.a. Mandak had its Hostel Nite. Akki invited me. The entire Mandak had changed. Typically its dull with hostelites' undies drying on the strings. And usually a group playing footer. And of course one lone security guard announcing '347, Local Call Online'.

But tonite was different. The main entrance had a Disco Ball firmly in place. A torch projected a green light onto it. And there was light music playing in the background. This was at 7PM. The walls were plastered with descriptions of the inmates, alongwith a wacko photo for good measure. They call it Profile.

This was like a farewell for the outgoing batch. There had to be good food and an even better dance floor. The other part of the field was done up nice and proper - the garden and all.

The booze flowed in the rooms. Thanks to Dee, we guys helped ourselves to Romanov and Old Monk, followed by Unlimited Pizza from Pizza Corner. I don't know if those dopecats were on some cost-cutting spree, but no ketchup or chilli-flakes were served. Yeah, but who was in it for the Pizza anyway ?

Danced till 12:30 AM. One helluva party. There was everything - Bhangra, Rock, Tam, Gult, you name it. Awesome.

My black shoes turned red in the IIT sand. My white shirt is a shade lighter than pink. But the party was awesome.

I've been wanting to write about my experience at a shelter for kids.. Sometime back I visited Udavum Karangal. This translates to 'My Helping Hands' in Tamil. A gentleman called Mr.Vidyakar started this shelter for kids abandoned by their parents, and also for serving mentally sick people, way back in 1983.

I visited the place out of curiosity. Was quite nervous initially. But the people there were very warm. Its common culture here to take of your shoes outside a home. I took them off at the reception. A young volunteer led me to the creche.. there was one kid who was only a week old. I don't remember how many there were, but you couldn't count all those kids on your fingers. Their eyes just lit up when they saw us (I was accompanied by my Aunt and Uncle). Twas as if they were waiting for us, and rather, expecting us.. Most of the kids were girls. In spite of so much media attention and fuss that our politicians make, one such visit and you know what the ground reality is.

We had brought fruits and biscuits for the kids. A notice put up at the reception mentioned a need for nappies, horlicks and bedsheets. So we enquired why they didn't inform us, for we could have brought those things as well.. And the volunteer says 'We want to encourage people to share with these kids, whatever they wish to, voluntarily; that's why we never demand anything from our donors'. Come to think about it, all I've always thought about is : 'If God gave me three wishes, what would I ask for ?' Shux.. There are such content people on this Earth. I have a lot to learn. A lot.

The volunteer then took us to the Kids Dormitory. They all lined up and accepted the stuff with a huge smile and 'Thank You'. We distributed the biscuits to the mentally sick people as well.. they were unlike anything portrayed on TV. That's bullshit. Everybody smiled. They thanked us. And when we began to leave, they clasped our hands as a warm gesture. No screams. No wailing. No madmen.

I don't feel like visiting temples and chanting mantras for eternal good.. anymore. I was really happy after my Udavum Karangal visit. It gave me the peace.

I got here on the 27th of February 2003. Things were different then. I had just quit my job in Jaipur and decided to travel south to visit my relatives here. This was after a brief stop-over at IIT Bombay for about 15days, scouting for an RA position. I never got the project of my taste. But the place was beautiful. I stayed at the SAMEER Guest house and literally fell in love with the campus of IIT Powai. Most memorable event: Watching the screening of Mr. & Mrs. Iyer at the IITB Audi. And enjoying all those jibes on south Indians.. somehow, everybody just laughed.

I moved to Bangalore after that, and spent a week there. This was at the IISc Campus. This place is supposed to be heaven for ambitious Engineers. I scouted for an RA position at CEDT and the MEMS Centre. These places were big-time happening. But that didn't happen. However, It was one helluva lovely place.. Memorable event: Watching Cliffhanger in the Badminton court, which is reachable via the IISc overbridge. Hmm.. this was a totally different experience allright..

I had spent about 21 days away from home. With little success. Pissed off and irritated, I just wanted to go home. Fate had planned otherwise.

I had no confirmed tickets for home from Bangalore. I got a call from my Aunt in Chennai to come-over and spend a few days with her and Uncle. Hmm.. I thought. Chennai ? Me. No thank you. Waste of time. Waste of money. What'll I do there ?

I landed in Chennai in Feb. end. The place was hot. Unpleasant, after Bangalore. By the time I got home, I was drenched in sweat and was double irritated.

Its 10th April 2004 today. I've spent more than a year here. I got my RA at IITM. I completed my tenure there. And the last one year here, has changed my impression of the place - totally. Everything, except of course, the unfriendly autowallahs. But then, one can't obviously judge a city by its autowallahs ?! Thank God, I'm here. I'm loving it.