Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Benz Diaries - Benz and the Beautiful

Looking back, I can say for sure that most of my learnings in life has been during my 4yrs stay in Kkdi. I learnt to listen, I realized I am not the centre of the universe. More importantly I saw in front of my eyes the whole process of dreaming and working towards converting the dream into reality.
Okay...back to the world of Benz. There were lot more colorful personalites both in my friends cirlce and in my family circle. If i am not describing them now it is because of my inability to verbalize the effect they have had on me. Still I'll open out as and when the story warrants.
Two parts into the Benz diaries and I havent yet spoken of two things - Benz and girls. So this part is dedicated to them.
Well, at the end of my 1st yr, I decided to move out of hostel and live alone. Reasons??? to learn to live independently, to learn to understand life, to have a private space...truth is.....just for the heck of it. Hindsight almost always gives us plenty of attractive explanations...but truth is always..the truth. And so I moved out..stayed as a tenant of one Mr.Salim Bhai, was living next to my relatives and in their house I ate. About them....later.
For my commutation, I was given the Benz by my cousins. One of the most aesthetically (err...to my eyes) functional machine which was both rugged and stylish. My Benz epitomised the saying that the best of things are characterized by their simplicity. The Benz was.........my cycle....a ATB ranger which was bought around 10-15 yrs back when cousins were just out of their school. It had all that was required ( or JUST what was required) to ride a cycle. - a frame, a handlebar, a seat, 2 wheels, 2 tyres and a poor imitation of a mudguard. What it didnt have? - brakes, bell, carrier (carrier ilaadha cycle dhaan da kaadhalukku ethadhu therinjuko?????) , a proper cycle stand,. You get the picture right? And it was riding this Benz that I had all of my memorable experiences.
And girls......there is a simple explanation...most of them ran away from me or avoided me for obvious reasons. There were few whom I befriended although in general we had only a business like relationship in college. There were few interesting characters too.....
One was Narasimha Pallava's daughter- a very spirited character who always wanted to excel in whatever she did. As close to a rowdy as you can ever get, she was liked by one and all.
Then there was Babli - the greates OTMP (batch consensus..u see), a tomboyish character who loved to scrape.
And then bringing up the flank was Swarna akka, a very affable type of person, most down to earth and always ready to listen to our woes.

But then........my Benz and the Girls were two mutually exclusive sets............

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