The Day when i almost Died - July 17th 2009

Lalith Krishna Prasad Chintamaneni 1982- 2009 (almost).

There is a history for July 17th 2009 to be my most unforgettable day. I was about 8 yrs old when I first stepped into a swimming pool with an inflated "ceat" tube around my waist. I seemed to have taken to waters pretty easily; i loved the idea of floating in water and moving from point A to point B. All was well until the day I started doing back strokes and my guide was impressed and he said "Back strokes eh??? you seem to have learnt how to swim pretty fast. Surely then you are ready to swim without your tube from tomorrow". Not realising how difficult it could get i reached the pool next day all set to dive in. Well it was on that day I was introduced to panic in water. I gulped and gasped but never swam. I could not get myself back to my swimming classes after that day. I Chickened out!!!

I believe me chickening out on my biggest challenge till that day did have a significant impact in my life. Since then I always had this desire to prove that I am not scared of water and that I am brave enough to tackle water. At every opportunity available I was keen to get into water and fight my fear. I wanted to be one up. I wanted to Win!

There were instances where every visit to chennai always had a ceremonial visit to marina beach with my frens (shakti, vini, tuhin, arjun, priyanka). I used to stand on the beach far enough to allow sea water to reach my ankles. The sight of waves coming in touching your feet and the distant horizon always made me feel that the sea is inviting me to its home on the horizon. Even today i am at peace when on a beach staring at the horizon. All I wanted is to be able to swim in ocean as far as i can. It was just a thought and I used to feel guilty of it at times as it sounds bloody suicidal. It’s since then my random adventures with sea have begun to prove a point that i am no chicken!

Random Adventure 1 (Bay of Bengal): Me, shakti, tuhin, vini, priyanka, arjun have gone to a resort to Mahabs. True to our adventure spirit when we heard that we can go into deep waters in fishing boat we jumped into one. 4 kms away from the mainland they asked if we would like to get into water. We were strapped in life jackets and they have long rope to which we were supposed to hold on to. My rational brain said nothing could go wrong so I jumped into the sea. There was a heavy current on that day and we were drifting away at a mad pace. Besides being pushed by the current, the abyss below and the uncertainty was unnerving. Thanks to education on TV I was always at a lookout for a "large fin" sticking out of the water. Nothing indeed went wrong on the day but the experience itself was quite frightening.

Random Adventure 2 (Indian Ocean): Well my laziness had eclipsed my desire to learn swimming but thanks to Adarsh who used to drag me to Jumeirah beach in Dubai for swimming on every weekend I learnt a bit, which can get me 10mts at best from any point. My swimming guide was boney who himself can only manage 20 mts at best. I used to try real hard to learn how to swim and it was extremely exhausting. One such weekend I was trying out my new lesson “to float in water.” All i had to do was to hold my breath and ease my body pressure so that the water pushes you up. I managed to float eventually but failed to notice i was drifting away from shallow waters. I couldn stand with my head above water, i had a minor panic attack but managed to swim to safety. Since then I was not as keen to hit the beach again as I was before.

Random Adventure 3 (My Swimming Pool): I have used our common swimming pool in our apt only twice before July 17th in last 4 mths. Since i am underutlising the facilities i decided to hit the pool every day. It was a lazy summer afternoon at 5 pm i was alone on the terrace in the pool. I was practicing my usual half baked swimming lessons for about 20 min and then thought of trying something new, something i have seen lil kids do. They float upright in water by constantly moving their hands and legs. Since I can’t achieve that at shallow end of the pool i inched to the deeper end. The moment i didnt feel the bottom of pool i started panicking and instead of trying to swim to safety i was struggling in water franctically moving my hands and legs. The first thought which came to my mind "Fuck i am drowning!!!"; Panic panic and more panic! In next 3 seconds i struggled enough to resurface for a brief moment above water and then "glug glug glug" water forced its way into my throat and the next second i was under water again. I could feel the pressure building around my nostrils and on my chest almost coercing me to open my mouth. I struggled even harder but was not able to resurface. Luckily i had my swimming gogs on and i opened my eyes to see the nearest border. It was to my left, i tried swimming under water towards it. I kept saying to myself "You are not going to die. You can reach it. You can reach it!". I thought i almost reached and with one last stroke i will be safe but it was not the case. Crazy it might sound at that time "refraction Theory" came to my mind. Immediately followed another thought "Oh Fuck this is not as close as it seems, i am going to die!!!" I almost gave up but I tried one last time. Three more panic strokes and I lunged putting all my weight in my fourth one when i reached the border and pulled myself out that very instant. Coughing, panting and shaking i put my head down lying on the floor and cursed myself "Foolish bastard!!!”

I have realised that the thin line of bravery and foolishness was crossed. I was surprised by the number of thoughts which came to my mind in those 20 secs. I was intimidated by my pool exposing my weakness to an extent i hardly wish to encounter again. I came very close to accept that i am going to die that instant. I came very close to give up HOPE! But i didnt. So i have also realised that i can fight my way through difficult situations and i will not sit and die with out one final battle.

Well I am a sore loser and i swore to myself that i will hit the pool everyday (Shallow end) and learn to swim better. Since yesterday i buried myself in my bath tub 3 times to able to hold my breath longer.

July 17th 2009 - A day when my random foolishness nearly killed me.

Vamsee Pelli Sandhadi - Part 4

Part 4 : THE BACHELORS PARTY

I had to be in Cochin for couple of days on Business; I flew back on 16th night. The bachelor's party was due at 1900 hrs on the 17th. Well i had little less than 12 hrs to get the party going. Cometh 17th morning i rushed with Nani anna and Teju to book the hall, menu for food & booze and bought "stuff" for the party. I tasked Vijay (cuz,who will later be the DJ for the nite) to get as many songs as possible together for the party. We blinked and it was 5:00 in the afternoon and we have no script in hand yet. Nani anna helped me in creating a very quick script in 30 mins, short but looked effective. I was supposed to do solo for which i had done no practice. God bless internet and god bless youtube. I took a quick look on youtube the songs i was due to perform and it was 6pm. Put my best shirt on with hair all moosed up i was all set to head out to party when amused by my hair style, dad almost combed it to a perfect shape but i managed to fight him off and yelled "Chalo Supraja Hotel"

The venue was a pleasant surprise to everyone as it mimed a discotheque. The concept of the hall was to portray a dark rocky enclosure with single disco light flashing. Vamsee looked impressed when he stepped in so i was pretty happy on Kaushik's choice. Vamsee's frens slowly trickled in and about 8:30 we started the proceedings.

"Bachelor's party" by definition must have an item girl performing. I had very little time to hire an item girl for lap dancing vamsee but even if i had time my family would have disowned me for such an act ;). In order to steer clear of the risk of being disowned I had to fill in for the item girl for an item dance on "Kajra Re Kajra Re" (How much ever special i wanted this party to be for my brother, i could not convince myself to lap dance him;)). Youtube Helped! I got the right matkas and jhatkas for the crowd to go hai hai ;). My matkas earned me 200 bucks by the time i was done dancing on the song.

What was evident in the performance was Chemistry between Ash (lalit) and Abhi (Siddu anna). Ooohhh Yess.... popat raja rocked the stage. This was the first time anyone present there had seen Siddu anna shake a leg and boy was he shaking it well. Apparently Kajra Re is siddu anna's song. The moment you hear abhi's line "Kajra reeee" you will find siddu anna running from some corner of the room to the center stage with open arms. We sprinkled few activities in between { 1. Blow me up 2. One minute Groom 3. My Fantasy) and had opened the dance floor.

You should never ever fail to notice two individuals on any dance floor. Both come from extremely unique schools of dance thoughts:

1) Sreenu Bava: He was in his own world the whole night. The amount of comical relief you extract just by watching him dance is insurmountable.
2) Vamsee: First peg - I will shake my leg; Second peg - I will shake my hip; Third peg - I will shake youuuu!!! He dances only when he is drunk and when he does dance it is an absolute delight to watch. He moves and we are forced to assume it to be a dance. Since this doesn happen too often next time i will make ppl pay up to watch this amazing once in a life time event.

Mandu padithe samanyudu chandra babu naidu avuthadu annattu porapatuna mike chethiki isthe, ichina prathi okkaru oka 10 mins sodhi kottesaru. The dance floor was as chaotic as it was for our college parties with cake fight and near sexual assault by rami reddy. At 1 am i pulled the plug and we headed home after an eventful bachelors party.

The night was an absolute delight and a great success. Vamsee had an ear to ear smile all through the night meeting 20 of his frens together at one place after really long long time. He was pleasantly surprised by a reclusive Rami Reddy dancing and Pratap Reddy being a genuine sport. He was sooo happy that he thanked me for the whole event two days later ;). I was happy that i did manage to make it special for him.

And Yess i will dance on all bachelors parties and my going rate is 200 bucks ;)
(Conditions Apply like no lap dancing)

Vamsee Pelli Sandhadi - Part 3

Part 3: "TOUCH DOWN"

Scene A -- Lalit a.k.a "Devdas"!

I took two weeks off and landed on Apr 10th - couple of days b4 vamsee was due
to arrive. I planned it such that i was hoping to take vadinamma for a date as i
was promised of her gracious presence. Well i did call her majesty couple of
times on both days and the reply was "errr... i am now going for shopping, i
will call you when i am back"... that call never came, her majesty stood me up
and my despondent soul looked forward for another hopeful day.

Scene B -- Here comes the Groom...

Vamsee arrived at early hrs and he appeared to be a man on mission with set of
objectives:
1) I shall not sleep until night fall
2) I shall finish my shopping in a day
3) I shall chew gum all the time i am in India
4) I shall be in air conditioned enclosure for rest of my life
5) I shall watch all the movies stored in my laptop again and AGAIN
6) I shall get wasted before the wedding
7) I shall listen to Swetha at all TIMES.

And boy did he achieve all these. You will note these achievements in following
posts.

Scene C -- Prakash Pednanna's presence dearly Missed!!!

The day he arrived, Vamsee was asked to come for shopping. Pelli kuthuru vallu
bangaram, battalu lantivi koni pettataniki. I haven met vadina till date so i
was all set to make a good first impression - extremely low waist jeans, Aviator
shades, hair moosed up, white shoes with tiny gold buttons is how i defined good
impression. Me, Vamsee and kaushik were greeted by Vadina, Attaya garu, Vadina
valla mama and Attaya gari mama (a.k.a Bulli Thatha)

Memu velle sariki already vadina, bulli thatha kottesukuntunnaru bracelet
selection meeda. General ga naa selection bavuntundi ani naa abhiprayam so i
jumped into the discussion:

Vadina: "lalli ee bracelet bavundi kadu"
Lalli : "mmmm... konchem feminine, madhyalo flowery ga undi design"
Vadina: "huh? Em parledu idi chala bavundi. Vamsee nuvu idi theesuko"
Vamsee: "Nuvu em chepthe adi swetha. Nee ishtam"
Lalli : "Vamsee neee @%$#*$%... (manasulo)"

Vadina: "lalli ee chain bavundi kadu"
Lalli : :konchem lavuga undemo vadina"
Vadina: "huh? Em parledu idi chala bavundi. Vamsee nuvu idi theesuko"
Vamsee: "Nuvu em chepthe adi swetha. Nee ishtam"
Lalli : "Vamsee neee @%$#*$%... (manasulo)"

Vadina: "lalli ee ring chaaala bavundi kadu"
Lalli : Already in resgnation thala oopadu, (manasulo "konchem peddadiga undi"
anukunna)
Vamsee: "Nuvu em chepthe adi swetha. Nee ishtam"
Lalli : "Vamsee neee @%$#*$%... (manasulo)" ; Asala nannu adagatam enduko, elago
decide aipoyaru kada??? ;)

Besides every suggestion of mine being vetoed, all the while Bulli thatha was on
a role bull dozin his opinions onto us including the menu in a restaurant ;) ;).
Edo chinna pillalam, memu edaina oka mata ante "chudu videsalalo thirigi
peddavariki gauravam ivvatledu" antaremo ani thala ooo thega oooooputhu
kurchunnamu.

Lunch tharvatha vamseeki kurta theesukotaniki vellam.

Lalli : "vamsee idi bavundi, 'V-Neck' is in fashion and it looks grand
Vadina: "abbo baaledu lalli..."
Vamsee: "Nuvu em chepthe adi swetha. Nee ishtam"

Vadina wanted vamsee's dress to complement her saree color. So adedoooo vintha
combination cheppindi greenish red, brownish yellow lanti combination "Pinkish
Wine" color anta. Eka shop lo unna anni battalu theesi chupinchadu papam vadu
aina kanikarinchaledu ma vadina. At last we decided on some maroon color kurta. 
{Which was then exchanged the next day to the one i selected "V-neck model"
Satyameva Jayathe ;) ;))

Hehe One thing i realised on that day. Edo nenu new age generation lo puttanu so
panthalu pattimpulu lanti alochanale ravu anukunna. Kani aa roju vamsee annitiki
thalu oopatam, ma suggestions over rule avvatam chusi "Chinna vallam ane kada ma
mata pattinchukovatledu. Maa tho patu kani oka pedda manshi vachi unte oka ata
adinche vadini vellani. Prakash Pednannnaaaaaaaaaaaa We missed youuuuuuuuuu" ani
anukunna. Edo mana piladu mana mata vinatledu ani andharu ginjukuntarentaaa
anukunevadini... i guess its only human ;). How much ever i tried I could not
render being an exception to it... I was later pretty amused that the thought
even came to my mind and i shall sans preach on that subject ever. :)

------------- End of Part 3 --------------

Part 4 : "Bachelors Party" to follow in my next post

Ta
Lalith

PS: All stated above is grossly exaggerated. Though there is little truth within
it should be read with a sense of humor. Vadinamma, it is very usual that
Chintamaneni ppl exaggerate, i am sure you will get used to it... Please do not
blow hot, all i can say in my defense is "Welcome to family" ;)

Vamsee Pelli Sandhadi - Part 2

Part 2: Reality Check...

The clock started ticking and my vision for the next big wedding was shouting
out loud for actions. I had just three months to orchestrate an unforgettable
wedding and my scripts were not complete, choreography lacked consistency,
costumes were not finalized, not enough ppl were brought on board, Logistics
were not finalized... tension tension tension.

Added to this on a professional front i was promoted, we lost 3 big projects
worth USD 120Mn, we downsized to 50%, I was in thick of all financial activities
rendering little or no time for me to execute my "to do list" for the wedding.

I was then informed that "Reception" was dropped from the agenda. Half my
activities were flushed along with it. Slowly new information trickled with
every phone call to mum where i started to realise i had very little left to do
as everything is been taken care off by someone. Though i was tad disappointed
initially, on hindsight it proved to be all for good as i hardly managed to give
10% of what time I had wished to give otherwise for wedding preparations.

A quick reality check --> Vision in the bin and Time to reinvent new strategies
to still make it a special one for my brother... A BACHELOR's Party it is
then!!! (will be described in later parts)

END of Part 2

Part 3: "TOUCH DOWN" will follow in my next post.

Ta,
Lalith

Vamsee Pelli Sandhadi - Part 1

s been almost a month since the wedding and i had been planning to get this
post much earlier but managed get started now. Besides the post i was also
supposed to introduce Shwetha Vadina, as the newest addition to the list of
members for the group, to all of you. Welcome Vadinamma!

This post is dedicated to manjucha akka who seems to enjoy reading my big mails
more than anyone else ;)... I didnt want to post painfully long mail so i have
divided this Sadhadi into various parts this being the first. Hope you guys have
good read and watch this space for all parts which will come by shortly (this
wil not be discontinued like Bahrain Express ;))

Part 1: Vision...

It started soon after Sony anna's wedding. A wedding filled with memories of
live orchestra, Sony anna dancing on "Ranu Ranu.." (leaving vadina behind),
First ever Chintamaneni's family photo with three generations together (kudos to
Sai babai), Vinod anna's strip tease, my solo performance, three generations
dancing together (whole tenali gaped in awe), Usual murali pednanna's tantrums,
Shanti vadina's first attempt at "ball room" dance (courtesy me) & a very cute
and adorable couple.

Sony Anna pelli andharu chala baga jarigindi ani cheppukunnaru, it was more of a
celebration than an event. I had then decided that the next wedding in the
family should be even more exciting more drama more fun. For the last 2 yrs i
used to plan, write and rewrite scripts, select songs, choreograph steps, look
up for costumes, plan out the decoration etc (well u dont get to do anything
exciting in a desert). Vamsee was most generous in lending me more time whilst
he was bride hunting at leisure. One fine day when our main man decides to sing
"Nonthin's gonna change my love for you... " (Thankfully they shot a video els i
am sure even vamsee would wonder if he had achieved such a feat ever). In no
time the dates for the wedding were fixed and i gleefully imagined an
accelerated action plan.

END of Part 1.

A Date with Tess !!!

Nov 29th, 2008 - Why could this be a special Day???

It is a story of three musketeers - Boney, Adarsh & Lalith. What seemed to be an inseparable friendship, long carrying the motto of "One for all and All for one" had encountered a rude awakening. Now there is treachery, jealousy and spite !!!

Tired of the brotherhood and worried about his marketability if delayed any longer, one dreadful day Boney realised that he needs to be more than just a musketeer, he decided to marry a princess! The decision though seemed to have dawned upon him but it had hit the other two musketeers hard in the stomach. Instead of being very happy for him, one thought of the encroaching vacuum of free ride to work and the other was growing green in jealous of Boney's ease in finding a princess.

Boney found the princess and he found her with an envious ease. He was content, happy and from the day he met her, Boney seem to have found the secret door to Neverland. The rooms now are locked for the rest (other two musketeers), as Boney started to love his privacy.

Just as "Misery loves company" is true, "Misery hates being left out" should also be true. One musketeer is not able to get into neverland as the price he needs to pay is very expensive (ISD calls) and the other musketeer lives in a paradoxical world where he encounters too many princesses and his best friend "confusion" keeps him single and away from his Neverland.

Besides being the only musketeer who inhabited neverland, everytime he goes to meet The Princess he comes back with bag full of gifts. As a cascading effect there is more jealously, more spite more bad blood. While one musketeer publishes blogs in protest the other (adarsh) kicks, punches and squeezes the daylight out of Boney for no reason (Ooops, he indeed gave one reson "I am just flexing and you came in between");

If this was not enough Boney has disowned his brotherhood completely. The other two musketeers have not met his princess for a loooong loooong time whilst every other accomplice of Boney had met her.

All this and much more made The Princess the most awaited and anticipated guest in town; Boney finally fights his demons within and invites the other two musketeers to meet her on 29th Nov 2008 at Diera City Center, Food Court!!!

Because of the high anticipation on the D Day, both Adarsh and Lalith though feeling little out of comfort hopped in our partner in crime Honda Civic. The way towards City Center seemed more treacherous than usual aided by Adarsh's sense of direction. With fewer ghastly mistakes Adarsh seemed to pull off an unthinkable he found the perfect place for parking the car.

Magnum Opus!
Food Court in Diera City Center was its usual busy self with over 1000 ppl making it difficult for us to spot the couple. Just when we seemed to have lost in crowd "Lo Behold!!! The Princess a.ka. TESS arrives amidst the crowd gracefully walking alongside Boney (who was having an expression filled with pride on his face which can be interpretted by the desolate souls as "I have THE princess") "; Finally we get to see her and we get a chance to judge her (He Ha Ha --- Evil Laugh).

With a brief introduction we moved to TGIF for lunch; The lunch went well with a menu of Lamb Shank, Grilled Chicken with Cheese, Margarita, Summer Salad, UAE Economy, Office Gossip. It ended with Lalith playing a fool when he recollected his first flight experience and the horrible coffee he managed to make. We let the couple do some more shopping and we were on our way back.

Overawed by Tess' Date, all we could muster out after the lunch was "Boney is a Lucky Basket!!!"

Now you know why 29th November 2008, featured in my blog !!!

Mumbai!

Described as a land of dreams Mumbai has by far lured people all over the country to realize their dreams. With over 19 million people living in mumbai they proclaim to be of being proud "Mumbaikars". With all past and glory mumbai has been an irony of fate in many ways.

Yes it is a land of dreams, it is the commerce capital of India. it is one of the costliest metropolitans in the world, it has been tagged as the "rudest city", it is among the top 25 most dirtiest places in the world and yes, it is the city which has been attacked by both extremists (within) and terrorists alike a countless number of times. Yet the spirit of the common mumbaikar is not broken and he seems to live the next day as any other day.

48 hrs and still counting: India's 9/11, Attack on Mumbai, Warzone Mumbai the highlights in every news channel flashed continuously with an ongoing live coverage giving us update of the situation every minute. Unidentified number of terrorists swarmed three hotels and took the guests hostage and engaged in firing Ak-47 at will. What word can describe an attack where terrorists aim and fire at innocent people just to prove a point and what point ??!! Carnage!!! Barbarian culture with a motive to spread fear in a nation because that nation "INDIA" had been stubborn in keeping what rightfully belonged to it.

Why?? Why?? Why?? the questions we face everytime we see, hear, experience such horrific acts. We question faith we question existence and we question reason, with growing insecurity on safety there is no easy answer to console and even confront.

Over 150 people killed in what I describe as an attack when we were sleeping! I am still not convinced and I might voice out the concerns of millions in India if we are doing enough to fight terror. The frequency at which these attacks have been happening only justifies my statement "being attacked while sleeping".

Having said that after, 48 hrs of intense battle India's elite Task force "the Black Cat commandos" are now close to end this horrific attack. Their act of bravery has ensured safety of hundreds of hostages and capture/execution of the terrorists. In carrying out this exercise they had lost some of their men and I am sure everyone will pay homage to their sacrifice. They remain as heroes in millions of hearts.

Mumbai - A Land of dreams, will continue to nurture everyone's dreams like no other city does. With mumbai we stand together and along with us a spirited mumbaikar will stand to prove to the world that it is hard to defeat his spirit.

Jai Hind!