Transformed !

Yesterday was a rough day. Nothing seemed to be going my way ! I could accomplish very little of what I wanted to do and was I feeling low for some odd reason. After a whole day of very little productivity and a lot of frustration, something magical happened. I have this habit of smiling at strangers when eye contact is made. Call me crazy, but I think it came to my rescue this time. I met one such stranger in the elevator when I was on my way to getting myself a cup of coffee and we made small conversation and she wished me a good day (with a wide smile) and left. When she left, it felt like the negativity left me as well. That smile of hers lit up the rest of my day. From that moment on, I was full of positive thoughts and a transformation had occured. Though the act of smiling may seem trivial, it has the power to do so much more. This relates to Deepa's WUGIWUG concept and the "He must be gelling" Advertisement. Just a small act of acknowedgement from our side can make another person's day. Keep doing it, and when we need it most, our day might just be magically transformed (like mine was, yesterday). So, people, smile, it costs nothing !

That Special feeling !

I am sure all of us would have had days that were so memorable that we never wanted it to end. Those moments that trascended time and we had no idea during that instant, that after that moment/hour/day, we were going to feel human again. It was temporary bliss. I've had my share of those days and below are some of those experiences.

"Iruvar"

I remember watching this movie with a total of 40 people in the theater. At the end of it, I thought it was a master piece. But everybody else seemed to be cursing Maniratnam for wasting 3 hours of their lives. When I came out of the theater, I saw my friend J coming out of the theater and the look on his face. And that one look said it all. He was thrilled to bits with the movie too and didn't understand how people could not like a classy movie like such !

"Chikku Bukku Rayile"

I was in high school when I listened to this song. I was stunned by the new sounds. Sounds that Tamil Music had never heard before. I believe it was this song that signified the passing of the baton from Raja to Rahman and removed any doubts from the minds of the skeptical few. 4 days later and after listening to it like 200 times, we were performing this song on stage in a high pressure Leo culturals (I think it was effervescence) , in front of an unforgiving Madras crowd. With some future professionals in our group (Devisriprasad and Mridul), I think we did a pretty decent job. The whole of the crowd was silent through out the entire song (which was a very good sign by the way) and at the end of it, we got a standing ovation from a 10,000 crowd ! A terrific feeling !

"The Master's 98"

I had driven down to akron to watch this 2003 World cup Match Vs Pakistan. And all through the journey, I was praying that sachin should get a big one here. When it was India's turn to bat, the exhaustion from driving and the frustration from Pakistan's good batting, got to me finally and I started to doze off. The little man had walked in by then and it took exactly one stunning straight drive to wake me up completely. The thought of sleep didn't occur to me since that moment. After watching that innings, it felt like nothing else mattered ! God had been nice to me that day ! There was no question about it !

"Lakers' mighty comeback"

2000 western conference finals - Game 7. The game was all but lost. 15 points down in the 4 th quarter. No other team had comeback from that far down in one quarter. But Kobe and shaq stepped it up bigtime. And like it had been scripted in heaven, I saw it unravel in front of my eyes. Posession after posession, play after play, Kobe and shaq decided to have the best game of their season, simultaneously. That alley-oop from shaq to kobe stands fixed in my memory ! That game gave me bragging rights for 10 years to come ! Sweeet !

"A day with a star"

Playback singer Unnikrishnan had a match that day at Ramakrishna cricket ground. And he had a recording at AVM studios. He had to shuttle between the 2 places frequently. And he had to find a place where he could change. My house was close to both places. And I was blessed. I promptly said "I'll come with you" and he said "fine". So I watched him score 16 quick runs and get out to a lofted shot, after which he feigned "cramps" and we drove to our place, he changed and went to AVM studios. I was listening to him practice in his car as he was driving. I got a live look at how songs were recorded in the studios. And then we hopped back in the car to the game where he enthusiastically kept wickets (nobody asked him about the cramps, guess everybody knew it was a part of the game). After all that, when I came back home that day, I thought to myself "I want to be famous like him and will do what it takes to get there". If only it were that easy !

There were several other moments like these, for eg. the pure satisfaction we experienced after sangamam, and how me and sriram were the only ones that liked Hey ram (were in awe of, to put it better) in our whole gang and we made it a point to talk about the movie once every 10 minutes for the rest of our reunion :), and cleveland's 12 run comeback against seattle. After all, we live for these days ! right ?