RTI Success Stories - First

The plan here is to Share my success / failure stories with RTI 2005 . FYI , I am not a RTI activist. I do Not belong to any party .  The timing of this has nothing to do with AAP . I have minimal knowledge on RTI . I do have basic ideas about RTI and of course I will share my experiences here .

Introduction
What is RTI : I am not going to lecture on this . There are umteen sites telling us what is RTI . How you can file them , etc.  Some of the links I like 

http://rtionline.gov.in/

http://www.rtiindia.org

Story 1 :  Did my EPF get transferred ?

I had to make a couple of Job changes  in 2008 . When I Joined the new organization , I did not want to close out my PF account as my other friends had suggested . I chose to transfer and wait for the transfers to happen . Although I submitted my transfer application as soon as I joined the new Organization in May 2009 , my new Org took its own time to consolidate and Send it to EPFO office . I believe they did it in Sept 2009 . I forgot abt my PF transfer and I was engrossed at my new work . Time flew ..2010..2011 , .. I did not even know my PF had gone into a black hole . Where to go..Whom to approach . At the max , I would follow up with my PF dept and ask them if my PF has got transferred for which they would have the same ans as I did . I was just hoping for the best .
   Thanks to one of my colleagues , he suggested to file a RTI to get the status . I spoke with him in length . I was never convinced that it would work . Ok..so what next .. I was researching a lot of sites to know about RTI , etc.  I had drafted the letter several times . My laziness always overtook me and I never posted any of the letters to the PIO , EPF dept . For some reason , in late 2012 , I thought let me fire a print out and speed post the letter . Done . Keeping my fingers crossed to get the reply . 
 Oof .. Sharp 20 days , I did get a reply from the PIO , EPFO Bangalore saying my EPF from  both the organizations have been transferred . Infact it was transferred by 2011 . I had no idea abt the transfer otherwise . But my mission was met to get to know that EPF had got successfully transferred .
Although I was not completely convinced that RTI enabled my transfer , I was atleast happy that my PF was transferred .  Thanks RTI .
Rating :  7 on 10 . 
Why not 10 on 10 ?  First RTI , being cautious abt the success . It did help me in achieve my goal . But I didnt still know how to use this effectively to get my job done . 

Good Job Mate .

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind".. That One small step has more success stories to follow . Keep coming back . 

Madhu
Right or wrong to information ? 

Dish ...

Certainly this post is not on food . what else could this be ? My coz calls me to check which sat TV should he subscribe ? mmm....
   Ta da.. Whats the first thing we do if we want to review ... Google govindan as I chellam call it . Does a research ..read several reviews  ..then choses a brand advertised by one of the Khans..
  Rewind !! Sunday mornings 25 years back ( gosh I am too old ) , if I had to watch He-Man Cartoon , I had to finish all my homework on Saturday . Not that I finished them , but I atleast had to act as if I had done .But today , there are 15 cartoon channels ..Gosh ...my niece is glued to all the cartoons 24x7. God pl help .
  When I used to pass Sadras Bus Stand , there used to be an inverted umbrella antenna , which used to retransmit the received data . Today each one of our apt have the setup .
  Now with Set top boxes mandatory in most of the major cities / towns , these channels are basking in the glory .

Talking about dishes ( read dish antennas ) , who can forget the tripartite communication strategies in olden days for antenna tuning . TV antennas used to receive signals and we would receive the only channel ( Doordarshan ) . Wind blows and the antenna turns like a wind vane in the direction of the wind ... All the kids where in the terraces trying to change the direction of the antenna back to its original position .  Madhu in the terrace turning the antenna to its original direction , Amma in the balcony to transmit the message from madhu . Appa actually checking in the TV and checking for clarity .

As a child I used to curse the wind . Now there is no such Antenna.. All of us are glued to the TVs without the 5 / 7 stripped antennas but a small dish in our terrace .. Luckily they dont change directions!!

Technology evolved .

Madhu
Ant Anna or Ant thambi ?

  

Socially Networked

My partner has been bugging me to blog for all this time and I have been escaping saying I am BC !! Really busy or lazy ? Well partly both are true . Probably ran out of topics .. Really ? Then how am I connected to the whole world .
There been a flurry of socially networking site . The Orkuts of the world , Facebooks ..Twitter ..
Well to net unaware netizens if I have to help understand what these are then these are networking sites to say hi to all your friends and keep them aware of what you are up to .
I have seen some of my friend's tweets as " I am going to bed" ..Gosh guys are you so very vela .
In my perspective the only benefit these sites have is to pass time . Initially I was thrilled by Orkut which brought in a connection to my old friends . But then as time passed , I realized that the only thing I had to say them was a simple Hi... I didn't have anything much to say :( Then what are the benefits of these social network sites. One big benefit that I could think of as create a lot of controversies . FYI ..Twitter has made a MP fall down just because he could keep his mouth shut .
Does that mean don't I have any such ids in these social sites. Of course not . I am a guy who has logins in almost all the sites and pretty decently active in all these sites but still believe its of no use . I am always in touch even in these only with whom I am actively connected .
My juniors have a different philosophy together . They claim face books of the world have been the best things to use in the internet . mmm..fair thought and I have always seen them connected only in one of the social sites ..
Knock Knock..my door bell rang . I saw an unknown person at my my door step . He had come to give my post mail . Realized that he was my neighbour whom I haven't met for the past 2 years that I have lived in this apartment . Neither did he have a clue that I was his neighbour .
Just an irony in the world of social networking , the neighbours arent networked :(

Caught napping

Yesterday evening , I had to go to the bank to check if my account has got transferred from Kalpax to Bangalore . yes you read it correct . I have an account still in Kalpakkam . After 10 years I decided to get this account transferred .
.Should I go to the bank just to transfer this amount . Anyways the account has stayed dormant for 10 years , Cant I let it stay as it is ...Several thoughts were running . The thought of bangalore traffic made me think to avoid it . I poushed myself over and decided to go for it .
Being an avid follower of rules, I hate breaking lines . Try to follow traffic rules as much as possible. Avoid bribing people for any reason . And of course try not to take bribes . Not that I am govt. servant for me to take bribes . Sometimes I feel I act like rules Ramanujam . As I got closer to the bank and was waiting for a signal to get green , I heard a lorry honking right behind . I was just cursing the lorry driver for severly honking at me . Hey idiot , its still red , you cant go over the signal . As the signal got green , I took a U Turn and moved away giving way to the
lorry . Ha I was feeeling relaxed for having such lorries get past me . As I had started accelerating my bike ......
From no where did a constable appear and waved her hand accross . I didnt do any thing wrong ..Did I . I have my papers , I didnt jump any signal . I wanted to make myself doubly sure , if she was asking me to stop ..Creech...my brakes were on and I moved to the left to park my bike . I started to tell her that I didnt jump signals , I had my papers on ..etc. etc . For which she quietly said there a NO U turn signal and I didnt obey it . Oops. didnt I notice it at all ..

My pocket grew lighter by Rs.100 and I had my challan for taking a wrong U turn .

Madhu
- the traffic breaker .

Ttttt ?

New office ..new people , new characters . I am a slow mover amongst people . It takes time for me to get used to people. Its amazing how human mind makes impressions about people by just their looks . Infact I too made first hand impressions about a lot of people mostly wrong impressions .
I was getting close to Sundar who was my manager . Sundar was very talkative.Infact more talkative than me . People used to be scared of him both for his knowledge and his voice . I had no problems getting along with him .
As time passed one day he invited me to his house for a cup of coffee . You all would by now know that I am one of the greatest lovers of coffee not that I am addicted to it . Yaaru Coffee nnu sonalum I go with them without a second thought ..We got in the car and as we were travelling to his house .there was a quick argument on who was the best coffee taster . He said that he is an extensive coffee drinker . As the argument heated up, he brought about his visits to cafe coffee day in his locality . He also mentioned that star bucks in US offered him a spl rebate on account of his loyalty. He brooded that he could identify and distinguish variety of coffees by just a sip . Infact , he proclaimed his wife made coffee which was the best in the world . This was on expected guidelines . Now all that I could offer as an argument was I just drink one cup of coffee everyday but that it was a south indian filter coffee. He was laughing hither thither as we parked the car in his house .
I greeted Mrs. Sundar and their kutties Aswin Sundar and Megha Sundar . The beverage topic started again and the kids said that Boost is the secret of their energy and they wanted to be Sachins and Dhonies ..
Meanwhile , mrs Sundar gave both of us cups .As we were sipping sundar was enjoying , but my facial expression changed . This certainly wasnt tasting a bit like my regular coffee . Several thoughts were running in my mind , was this is a special Coorgean coffee, Ingy Coffee , Sukhu Coffee ? Infact this was tasting terrible . But how could I say this to my manager . I gulped this like a kashayam. Sundar was sipping his cup and called his wife to boast abt his coffee drinking and coffee identifying prowess . To impress him I asked her the recipe of this special coffee for which she silently replied that this was not coffee but Tea and that she didnt know to make coffee all through her life . What ?
I gave a wry smile to Sundar as we walked to the car .

Madhu
Coffee Champion .

Finally.....

I feel its just yesterday I came to Hyd . I looked at my calendar and realised that its more than 5 years that I have stayed here. The Gullys in Ameerpet and Begumpet know me very well.

I have had my share of ups and downs in my stay at Hyderabad. Beautiful events , very sad events have happened in this place.
Now its time for me to move on. Again all that I am going to do is fix / create more bugs as i have always been doing.As I always say as a computer applications programmer , there are only 4 things you can do ...SELECT , UPDATE , INSERT or DELETE ...But in a new place , new ways of doing old things..new challenges new expectations .. lets see whats in store ..

Bye Bye Hyderabad .. I am coming Bangalore ..



Madhu
--Last Post from the Nawabistan

History Repeats

Nov 1 , we moved from 6 type in 4 th Avenue to 4 type in 5 th Avenue . New Apartment , new neighbors , new flat mates . New house excited me as it does to everyone . I was in Std 7 . It was a brand new flat in one end of the colony . Shifting the house was the best thing I liked then, as I would get an opportunity to travel in a Lorry . Though the lorry journey didn't last long , I enjoyed it thoroughly . Shifting was over over the weekend . Monday morning I was ready for the school . I used to board the bus in Second stop in the 3 street . My Bus stop didnt change as both the houses were in the vicinity of the same bus stop . As I was getting ready , mami from the second floor wanted to know the where abouts of the bus stop and where she would have to put her small daughter who was in 1st class then .
From that day , I used to accompany her to the bus stop . Monday mornings were the toughest . The small girl would cry and we used to cajole her to go to school . Invariably she used to be late and we used to run to the bus stop . My God , I was literally scared when I got a responsibility of accompanying another girl the next year . But being a good boy , I used to take care of both of them. 7 , 8 and 9 th class ... I think I did my job dutifully . 10 th class , I got my bicycle and thank God I started going to School by cycle and not by Bus . By then both these girls knew the route to the bus stop and I didn't have to accompany them to school . At least I didn't have to run every day to the bus stop :( .
20 years have gone by... The same family who stayed above us are moving to Hyderabad . They have rented a house in our apartment . But this time therez a small change , we are in the second floor and they are in the first floor. These people are new to Hyderabad .. The girl is working in a big time company . shez planning to commute to office by MMTS train . Should I accompany her to the office ? Will I be late to my office ? Does she still cry on Mondays to work ? Should we all coax her on Mondays to go to office ?
I was just a bit shaken, thinking about the famous adage "History Repeats " . It has almost repeated for me ...

Cheers,
Madhu

Sundal Garam Sundal

Dusserra is a festival which is celebrated in all parts of India for various reasons. North of India , people celebrate on the victory of Ram over Ravan . In the East people enjoy the festival as Durga Pooja with "Sandesh". In the South people celebrate it as victory of Durga over Mahishasuran by having a Kolu ( dolls ) . Each of the regions have their own culture and reasons to celebrate .Navarathiri is most well known for Ladies going to one another's house on one of these 9 days . Ladies sing songs , interact with others . On the whole the whole environment is spiritual . The celebration of Kolu is by placing divine mud dolls on an odd number of steps . The fact that we place mud dolls symbolizes that after death we also become mud .

I being from south have my own reason.I celebrate kolu for a very special reason . Yes your guess is right . I enjoy the sundals . Being from a small colony called Kalpakkam , I used to go to most of my friends houses and eat sundals from each of the houses . Being a good critic of food , I gained popularity for giving genuine comments on sundals .It became well known in a circle of our friends that my certificate was valid for all the 9 days. On the day I certify a sundal to be good , it was like Vasishtar Vayal Brahma rishi for the sundal Mami . Like today's Microsoft certification for MCSE or Sun ceritification for Java, those days were popular for Madhu certified sundals .
My amma's speciality was Puttu . This is made of Arisi Mavu( Rice flour) and generally made on a Friday . My God! , I still remember our house used to be full of people on Fridays. People from 21 street( farthest from my house) used to come to 5 th avenue to taste my Amma's Puttu .
The days are gone , now a days we havent been celebrating kolu for this reason . Its been more than 2 years since I have eaten sundal . I miss my Sundal . Hoping against the hope to start celebrating kolu again atleast for my sundal wishes .

Cheers,
Madhu
Sundalan

Volunteering

This weekend was pretty hectic for most of us from the organization. Not because we had to fix bugs but some of us had volunteered for community service. Some of the activities were enjoying with Specially privileged children, old aged ppl , helping out thalasemia patients ,etc. I decided to volunteer to for a couple of activities.
Chord was one such event. This was the one for helping out bringing in scientific temper among the under priveleged children who had been child labors and who were being taken care a NGO called Chord. We meticulously planned the various activities beforehand so that nothing crashes on the day of event . Ppl were assigned various responsibilities, food committees, science committees , etc were formed to take various roles. Leads took care of the overall arrangements .
Why should I participate in this event , Is it because I didnt want fix bugs on a Sat , was I getting a free T-Shirt , was it that I wanted a change or was it a small step from me to do a small service to humanity in my own small way ..Thinking and contemplating I boarded the bus which took us to the school ( I am not sure if I could call it a school). It was a faraway from Hyd about 25 Kms . We played a lot of games with the children . Musical chairs, some cultural activites with the kids made both us and the children enjoy the event. "Breakfast guys"..called the lead and all of us broke our fast .
After the breakfast , the main event took place.

Science Exhibition.

Volunteers went around the exhibits prepared before hand by the students with the help of their teachers. The main idea for around was to help them understand the basic science concepts and their real life implications. Rain water harvesting , Capillary action , Water pressure expts, Salt water synthesis , Electrical circuits , Optics .All parts of the science was touched. We went around each of the exhibits to help them . This was the toughest part. They were not able to communicate with us..And our Telugu was terrible. In our toota foota telugu we managed to tell them whatever we knew and they understood things in their own way (Hope we havent taught anything wrong) .
After this the children demonstrated the same to their school mates and explained them. The children did their work with a great deal of enjoyment and involvement . As we were showing the exhibits , Lunch was being taken by other children keeping in mind of the small kitchen. Biriyani ..Curd Rice ..Kids thought it was festival time ..this was the most relishable time for the kids .
Post lunch was devoted to origami classes. With Papers it was amazing to see of some of our volunteering to teach making elephants, birds..mmmm. God I also tore a lot of papers !..Kids got them correct and I presume they would possess these pieces pf papers as really valuable pieces of their creativity .
Day was coming to a close when we decided to share way the prizes to winners of events whihc we conducted all thru the day like memory game, art competitions ,etc . The kids also performed their part in singing songs, dancing etc to entertain us . Good Show guys... "Tata , bye Bye ..please come again sir/Madams", said the kids as we parted way after a long anjd memorable day.
I boarded the bus with a heavy heart again thinking if I had got the answer ..I believe I got the answer .

Cheers,
Madhu
Volunteer.

Freshening Up

Come Sundays , Appa ( dad) had an important work . He used to go to Pudupatinam Market to get the vegetables in his moped. Kalpakkam, being a small township had only one market . Market was flooded with vegetables only on Sundays. There was a huge amount of business going on as mostly all the families made their purchase over the weekend and stocked it for the week.The non veggies would get their pile of fresh fishes and meats on Sundays. Just in case you go to pdpm on Sundays you could catch up with almost all your friends . The vendors knew almost all the residents by heart as did we know the vendors personally. The Kallans, senthils , muthus shops were all lined up just after we took the right from the exit gate .

Appa had the strategy of giving equal business to all the shopkeepers getting one vegetable from each one of them dropping them into his green bag . Appa never used to bargain . I used to silently observe the business acumen of each of the vendors , their speed in dealing with people and calculating the fractional quantities without computers :( . Probably those guys ate more of their own ladies fingers !!!

Amma never used to go the market. She went only on festive occasions to make special purchases. Otherwise she was more reliable on the street vendors like Mookan the Long Nosed

Pallan , Who had a specific teeth structure which gave him this name or Maariamma ,Who had such a big kumkum on a forehead( I used to be scared of her vermilion) . They were more of the door delivery types. They used to scream at the top of their voices to get the attention of the dwellers in the flats. They had specific times for each areas. Our area was covered by them in and about 3:30 pm .

Amma's business was drastically different from Appa's .Amma used to haggle a lot with them even for a rupee. She used to compare all the vegetable vendors prices and always made sure she got the best deal .As a child I used to be amazed by her bargaining skills.. God Knows how she came to know those details sitting back home . Kosuru ( extra vegetables after the normal weighing ) was one important point amma made during her business. Some days I used to get so irritated with Amma over the bargains she made with them . It was another matter that she used to give the hungry vendors food from our house after the business deal was over . I had once asked her why do you have to bargain for one rupee and give the vendor food, instead give that extra rupee to Mariamma . My mothers answer was pretty simple , buying vegetables was business and serving people was humanity ..Point well taken mom..Appreciate it.
Sir , you could either pay the bill for these vegetables over the credit card or use the sodex ho coupons said the person on the otherside of the counter in the air condtioned Fresh outlet near my house at Hyd .My lifestyle has changed even for buying vegetables. I walked out of the outle t with the frozen vegetables pondering about the hundreds of Kallans and Mariammas who would have been affected by the Chain of Outlets like Reliance , Fresh , Subikshas .....

Cheers,
Madhu
-Vegetable buyer .

2 Extra dosais

This happened to me when I was in the first semester of MCA. We just finished what I would call the toughest practical examinations in my life. Ask my MCA classmates, they would agree that the first semester electronics lab exam was more a theory exam than a practical exam. Myself , Maha and Kums were the 3 lucky people who got the kind of qn which one would have never expected. All the 3 of us were fuming when the exam was finally over. It was not that the qn was tuf but it was monotonous and it cudnt have been completed in 3 hrs by anyone and there were not enuf chips in our labs to execute the circuit.
I was dead tired and frustrated with the exam and walked after a long 3 hour exam . I was hungry . I wanted to eat as much as possible and walked to one of the best restraunts in TPK . As I was walking towards the restraunt, KK another calssmate joined me . He wanted to know how the exam was and I had to narrate him the whole story and that I was going to have my fill. He wanted to join me and we started walking.
We were close to the bus stop as Muthu another of my classmate was walking and he was also interested to join us for the snack. We were all hungry and went to a small restraunt near the TPK temple to have our fill.
Each one of us were hungry and were ordering gulping the snacks as if we hadnt seen those food items at all. Each finished our idlies and next came the set dosais , gulped a few chapatis and finally the coffee to refresh ourselves.. Each of were full and could not have anything more for the rest of the day.
"Bill Please", said Muthu. The waiter gave the bill and the bill was Rs.82 .I was having Rs 50 and asked KK to pay the rest.I was always of the opinion that as my classmates joined me one by one they would be having enuf cash with them. Now KK didnt have money nor did Muthu. KK and Muthu were thinking that others wud be having enuf cash to pay out the bill. Each of us were looking at each other's face not knowing know this embarassing situation. The waiter was walking up and down around us with accusing look.
Luckily for us Muthu's house was close to the restraunt and he said that he would get the money. 5 mins passed after Muthu left , myself andKK were in unknown waters. KK hit an idea . He called up the waiter and ordered for another 2 dosais for each of us.I was confused and got his idea. KKs idea was simple. By the time Muthu came back, we would slowly munch the extra dosais so that the owner didnt think bad of us . But then we were already full . Still , we slowly munched the extra dosais and thank God by the time we finished the extra dosais, Muthu came back with enuf cash frm his house.
If Muthu had not been in time this blog would have been 10 extra dosais . Myself and KK would have gone in an infinite loop for sure. What say KK ?

Madhu
- Dosai eater

Indru Oru thagaval

"Inrou oru thagaval", was a popular AIR program on weekdays at 7:40 am during my school days. I am not sure if the program is being aired even today . its a 5 min program and the agenda was pretty straight forward. A small story with a big message and the program ended with a small joke.
Initially I started listening to the program to keep up my time. The broadcast was my breakfast time during school days. During the course of the time , I became a big fan of the program for its short and sweet stories. The hero of the program was Thenkachi Ko swaminathan whoz there in the foto right above. His voice suits a grandfather's voice who tells bedtime stories to his grand children. the morals and teachings in the program come a long way in ones life.Mr Swaminathan, seems to have retired from AIR and seems to have joined SUN TV . I just happened to see him in the morning show during my breakfast at 9:00 AM the other day and I was reminded of some of the stories narrated by him.

One of the nice stories that I still remember goes like this .

" There were 2 buddhists monks . They were crossing a river. They saw a beautiful woman who was struggling to cross the river. She asked the monks to help her cross the river by carrying her in their shoulder. One of the monks said it was a sin to carry woman. but the other monk carried her along and helped her cross the river. The woman thanked the monk and lleft on her own way. After abt 10 mins , the monk didnt help the female told the other."Our Guru has asked us not carry woman".
For this the monk just replied , "I have left the woman in the bank, but it seems you have carried all until here ". This monk realised his folly .

Sucha small story with a huge meaning aint it..

Madhu

Hair cutter...

Today is sunday. Enakku thalaikku melai velai irukku. adhu thaan ba hair cut pannanum. I have a lot of sentiments about choosing my saloons. Dont know how I picked up this habit. Barbers are unique and have a philosophical aspect . They are the ones who reduce your headweight :-) with your consent .
The first vivid memory of mine when ,I was taken to barber was in Kalpakkam wa "MADURAI Saloon" in the shopping store complex with my appa. The barber placed me in a swinging chair. Iwas small and hence he put a small wooden plank so that he was ok with settings.
He took out his pair of scissors and booooo... i started crying . I was thinking he was going to cut my head :-( and that cudnt happen . I didnt know what was happening , a couple of other barbers with my father tied me up and finished the act.
From then on I tell you till I came out of my town, I dont remember having got a hair cut from any other barber. Any Sunday , i went to the saloon , I would be given priority over others as I have been one of the regular customers. Even in my college days, I used to wait for my trip to kalpakkam to have a hair cut. the charges were special for me. The barber charged 5 rupees lesser for me . Its another matter that i would tip the barber wth the same 5 rupee.
I picked up the habit of reading sindbad in dinathanthi , varamalar ,etc in my wait for my turn. I have seen several small kids cry like what i did. I used to laugh at myself. Now I miss all the dinamalars adn the tunukkus . All i get to read is the telugu newspaper ...I dont read them , I just see the jalebis printed in the newspaper thinking if these are to be eaten.
i dont remember having a single freak incident with my barber. he was careful inhandling me . All that he wud ask me was "long" or "short". When I was introduced to C datatypes , iwas thinking kerninghan and Ritchie would have had a barber like mine. He just waited for my reply and started his artistic task of cutting the 60 adi koondhal of his highness. Poittu vaanga sir .
mission completed ..I would walk back home or drive in my champ as a victorious gladiator . After every hair cut Amma would say, innum konjam kooda cut panni irukalamay .."Amma idhukku mela cut panina mottai thaan adikanum " was my regular reply.
i was dictated to walk to the bathroom straight and poured water as if i had attended a funeral. After a quick bath my coffee and The hindu are ready and thalikku melai velai slowly accumlates till my next hair cut.

Madhu

ஓரு நடை பயனம்

Hyderabad Heart walk is on Sept 24,2006. This event in association with Yashoda Hospitals has been initiated to create awareness among people on heart ailments and prevention. After the Hyderbad Run , this is one big event in Hyd with a lot of corporate participation.
Walking is the simplest of excercises. It involves most of the muscles and reduces the chance of heart ailments.
One of the first things the parents feel proud abt a new born baby is when it starts walking. These days I have seen parents having clicking fotos as memoirs of their kids first walk in this mother earth. I dont remember when I started walking ..should have been slower than others of course . In my school days, long distance walking was a rare oppurtunity . The max I would have walked would have been from my school to my home on the days when school bus used to be late.
My family members were great walkers . All my uncles walk for Kms together just to keep them fit. Even to this day my uncles wake up at 4:30 am (yes you read it right ..AM) and walk for about 1-2 hrs ....mm...
Sitting in front of the dumb terminals, we bug fixers have forgotten to walk.More so I have forgotten to walk. I had been to chennai to meet my Patti who was in Nanganallur with my chittappa. My periappa from madipakkam, came to meet my Patti. while returning back, he asked me if I would want to accompany him. I said why not ? First he said he wanted to visit the Anjaneyar temple. It was a saturday and periappa has a habit of doing 108 pradakshinams on Sat.
If this old guy is able to do it why not me ( Madhu come on u can do it !!).Like a good boy I followed him for all the 108 ... Got some good puliyodharai and sakkarai pongal ( will later write how to make them ) .
We both started and I thought we would either take an auto or a bus . But to my dismay periappa started walking ..WALKING another 5-6 Kms ...not possible..My thoughts were on the great Dandi march ..Gandhiji had a purpose for that walk . What was ours ? Why should we walk this far ..
After walking for abt an hour and half we reached home . My legs were abusing me . I hadnt used my legs continously for this long . I was feeling tired. Oru Coffee kidaikuma periamma .."2 mins da " will get you .. While i was sipping my coffee my 3 year old niece came home after playing out . Ah !!! now the walk made real sense . I always believed after a hard toil the result is always sweet . Talking to my kutti niece I felt the walk was sweeter .

Madhu