Last week I was watching the India-Pakistan cricket match with my friends in Hamburg….I am not a cricket buff but when I was invited to watch the match I hurried immediately since I love to see a match huddled together in a group where everyone got a comment about how a shot should have been played, why the field placements are wrong, why the ball should come on to the bat and why it was swinging in the other direction and the list goes on….After all everyone relishes giving authoritative opinions on the game… with all the tension so visible in the faces and a chilled beer to accompany...watching a game together is fun…..So last week while watching the match together I was transported to a incident which happened 5 years ago….
Place: A duplex flat in Pune
Year: 2004
That was the time when we started working and six of us were staying in a 3 BHK duplex flat at one of the most well known addresses in Pune…We were new to the city and we had arrived packing only our clothes and essentials…So like all just out of college newly employed folks we survived on bare essentials… We just had a huge empty flat with not a single chair or bed…. And since we were 6 guys living in this flat (all of em from same college who got placed in the same company) there was never a dull day….The tension of clearing the training at the company coupled with our new found ability to splurge thanks to our salaries, we were having time of our lives…I am sure ‘B’ helped liquor sales double in Pune those 4 months and restaurants sprung up around Aundh after they figured out ‘S’ had arrived in town ….So it was not that we really lacked entertainment , but we missed a television where we could watch a match together…
12 kms from our place stayed another group of 7 guys from the same college…But they were arch-rivals back in Trivandrum, them being hostellers….But then in Pune the famous mallu unity came into the picture thanks to a common love for OCR Rum and beef fry….The old enemies became friends …
Then one fine day my roommate made a grand announcement..…
“Guys…I want to share a great news with you guys….”
We all sprung up eager to know what it would be…did he finally get the scotch we wondered?
“My folks are sending a television from Kerala for all of us …We can watch the upcoming cricket tournament LIVE..!!” he exclaimed……
Our joys knew no bound….and we started marking off dates from the calendar anticipating the expected day of arrival… The television was expected to arrive on match day… So we made space for the TV in one of our huge rooms…Set our bed and pillows in the corners of the room for a viewing experience similar to those mughal dancers with hookah smoking junta around…. Considering our new found friend ship with the hosteller group in Wakad, we has specially invited those 7 guys as well along with a few from the neighbourhood….Around 16 guys were assembled in one of our rooms and it was packed…Serious pre-match discussions were happening around….some heated and others leisurely having their beers….It was like a big party where everyone were waiting for the chief guest to arrive..
Time: 1 pm
We got a call from the courier man that the TV was waiting for handover at the ground floor…Note that our duplex was at the eighth floor…So two of us went down to pick it up…As we signed the papers the courier guy handed us the box.. The HOLY BOX….
After the courier man left , We did not utter a word and just looked at each other…a bit stunned … But we both knew what we would do in such circumstances…..B picks up his mobile…
“Daa…Raghu…Could you come down…bring a couple of guys along…its quite heavy for two of us”…..my friend rang up ..
In a few minutes we had a couple of guys down who had come down to help us lift the ‘heavy’ piece of electronics…Rest of the folks back at the apartment were getting ready to give a warm reception to the television….As we came out of the lift we shouted at the remaining guys to give way lest the huge TV hits somewhere on the way and gets damaged…
Time: 1:15 pm
There is silence…of the eerie kind by the way..
The box was to be opened in front of everyone …Many amongst us who were quite proficient at therrivili suddenly found themselves short of words to express …mostly out of shock…As my friend did the caesarian of the cardboard box and we looked at in anticipation, and it did come out without much ado and without a whimper of a sound… a beautiful, cute 5 inch TV !!...the kind off which you see in taxis…or somewhere in barbershops or in miniatures exhibitions ...looking more like a lunch box or rather a soap box …and shouldn’t I mention the black and white plasma screen with a surround sound it boasts of…
We kept the TV at our designated area quite ceremoniously like a deity in the puja room…Most of us had never seen a smaller TV in our lives…and hence we sort of felt blessed to see one..
That evening 16 guys watched the match on that tiny contraption of electronic wonder …From a fair distance we looked like 16 rats trying to drink milk from a pan since we had to huddle together into a mass heap to see what exactly was happening in that little screen…The thadiyanmaars amongst us trampled on top of the skinny ones… We don’t remember much about the match…But we very well remember that particular day when we invited 10 unsuspecting folks, 12 kms away from our place to watch a match in a 5 inch screen!! That was a sight to see….
This is the best I got from Google images…the one we had was much smaller..;-P
Place: A duplex flat in Pune
Year: 2004
That was the time when we started working and six of us were staying in a 3 BHK duplex flat at one of the most well known addresses in Pune…We were new to the city and we had arrived packing only our clothes and essentials…So like all just out of college newly employed folks we survived on bare essentials… We just had a huge empty flat with not a single chair or bed…. And since we were 6 guys living in this flat (all of em from same college who got placed in the same company) there was never a dull day….The tension of clearing the training at the company coupled with our new found ability to splurge thanks to our salaries, we were having time of our lives…I am sure ‘B’ helped liquor sales double in Pune those 4 months and restaurants sprung up around Aundh after they figured out ‘S’ had arrived in town ….So it was not that we really lacked entertainment , but we missed a television where we could watch a match together…
12 kms from our place stayed another group of 7 guys from the same college…But they were arch-rivals back in Trivandrum, them being hostellers….But then in Pune the famous mallu unity came into the picture thanks to a common love for OCR Rum and beef fry….The old enemies became friends …
Then one fine day my roommate made a grand announcement..…
“Guys…I want to share a great news with you guys….”
We all sprung up eager to know what it would be…did he finally get the scotch we wondered?
“My folks are sending a television from Kerala for all of us …We can watch the upcoming cricket tournament LIVE..!!” he exclaimed……
Our joys knew no bound….and we started marking off dates from the calendar anticipating the expected day of arrival… The television was expected to arrive on match day… So we made space for the TV in one of our huge rooms…Set our bed and pillows in the corners of the room for a viewing experience similar to those mughal dancers with hookah smoking junta around…. Considering our new found friend ship with the hosteller group in Wakad, we has specially invited those 7 guys as well along with a few from the neighbourhood….Around 16 guys were assembled in one of our rooms and it was packed…Serious pre-match discussions were happening around….some heated and others leisurely having their beers….It was like a big party where everyone were waiting for the chief guest to arrive..
Time: 1 pm
We got a call from the courier man that the TV was waiting for handover at the ground floor…Note that our duplex was at the eighth floor…So two of us went down to pick it up…As we signed the papers the courier guy handed us the box.. The HOLY BOX….
After the courier man left , We did not utter a word and just looked at each other…a bit stunned … But we both knew what we would do in such circumstances…..B picks up his mobile…
“Daa…Raghu…Could you come down…bring a couple of guys along…its quite heavy for two of us”…..my friend rang up ..
In a few minutes we had a couple of guys down who had come down to help us lift the ‘heavy’ piece of electronics…Rest of the folks back at the apartment were getting ready to give a warm reception to the television….As we came out of the lift we shouted at the remaining guys to give way lest the huge TV hits somewhere on the way and gets damaged…
Time: 1:15 pm
There is silence…of the eerie kind by the way..
The box was to be opened in front of everyone …Many amongst us who were quite proficient at therrivili suddenly found themselves short of words to express …mostly out of shock…As my friend did the caesarian of the cardboard box and we looked at in anticipation, and it did come out without much ado and without a whimper of a sound… a beautiful, cute 5 inch TV !!...the kind off which you see in taxis…or somewhere in barbershops or in miniatures exhibitions ...looking more like a lunch box or rather a soap box …and shouldn’t I mention the black and white plasma screen with a surround sound it boasts of…
We kept the TV at our designated area quite ceremoniously like a deity in the puja room…Most of us had never seen a smaller TV in our lives…and hence we sort of felt blessed to see one..
That evening 16 guys watched the match on that tiny contraption of electronic wonder …From a fair distance we looked like 16 rats trying to drink milk from a pan since we had to huddle together into a mass heap to see what exactly was happening in that little screen…The thadiyanmaars amongst us trampled on top of the skinny ones… We don’t remember much about the match…But we very well remember that particular day when we invited 10 unsuspecting folks, 12 kms away from our place to watch a match in a 5 inch screen!! That was a sight to see….
This is the best I got from Google images…the one we had was much smaller..;-P
21 comments:
ROFL!! Njaan aarunnenkil neighbour room il thamasikkunna hot girl inte TV kaanumaarunnu, accompanied with chips and soda. Mandan Mathai, budhiyilla. Nammude glamour ingane alle utilize cheyyende ;)
rofl ...for a tv like dat ...u wud have definitely required more than 10 ppl to carry it :-p
:) :) i do have the same type of tv when i shifted to mumbai from kerala... but bcoz of the "Size" of tv i hated to open. now i handed over to my cousin with lots of love who is staying alone in gujraat.... i heard even he started hate its size... i think now its for his younger brother.....:)
“From a fair distance we looked like 16 rats trying to drink milk from a pan since we had to huddle together into a mass heap to see what exactly was happening in that little screen…”
Mathew, this is what they say; draw a picture using words. Fantastic!
But what made the case so heavy? Was that a prank?
Hahahahahaaaaaa.......this is so hilarious tht I'm wiping the tears off;-D
I knew something was not right but the twist in the tale was like......totally unexpected.
The image of 16 of u watching the match is so vivid in my mind, hahaahahhahaaaaaaaaaa.....
That evening 16 guys watched the match on that tiny contraption of electronic wonder …From a fair distance we looked like 16 rats trying to drink milk from a pan since we had to huddle together into a mass heap to see what exactly was happening in that little screen…
omg!!!!! ROFL!!!!!
this is what happens with high expectations and ..er... low deliverance of quality! :P
:D
with gud old friends, its always memories of the silliest stuff we did together, that brings in the biggest smiles ever!
"we looked like 16 rats trying to drink milk from a pan"
ROTFL, who won the match?
hehe we had a similar experiance, when we got the first PC in our hostel(we were in first year at that time,in 2003)..that night around 40 mallus watched pulival kaliyanam(without speakers) in a four seater room.each and evrything in the room including table , cot , upper cot,cupboards were used to sit.
therrivili suddenly found themselves short of word...LMAO ...classic
these are the beautiful memories which make u smile,when u look back after some years.
nyways thanks for such a wonderful post...reminded me a lot about my hostel days
I remember waking up one afternoon and just being on 7th heaven to c colour televsion at home....till day tht remains one of th best surprises by parents gave me....I guess tht idiot box has been lot of sweet memories to all of us...
4 people bringing up a 5 inch tv... he he he thats the best!!
Right after college with money in your hands and a safe secure job... thats what I think the "best" part of your life is.
Been a long time since I watched a cricket match... need to buy a five incher i guess...
If no one knew you were getting a 5" tv, that's one helluva s'prise :)) And nice@rats simile.
thomas
;-P enthu cheyanaa..
@nimmi
haha..yeah we couldnt help but share the weight..;)
@Heera
hahaha...so is it something like a treasure handed over generations...
@Arun
ofcoz it was not heavy..talk about sharing frustrations..;-P
@Reflections
:-)
@Ashwathy
really..it was almost like that..;-D
@Usha
so true..even now when we talk to friends we recollect such old stories..
@wanderlust
hehe...infact i dont remember what match was it..;-P
@anishthomas
yeah..such incidents had happened to me before..but this was icing of the cake..
@Small Talk
haa...i had to literarily beg to get one for home..we survived on a vintage keltron for long!!
@Abraham
hehehe...i wonder if we get such TV's anymore..;-P
@Karthik
indeed..ofcoz since the guy who got the TV was a therivilli expert we didnot attempt any on him..;-)
:) Still imagining 16 of you crowding in front of the 5 inch TV!
Never knew you lived in Pune! Aundh has changed a lot! I left Pune during early 2007. I'm planning to go back for a visit soon. Let me know if you need pictures of the new landscapes or old landmarks. I will try help! :)
LOL! too good..
nd they still have those TV's arnd here..
Hi Mathew, Been a while. Oh man I like the part when therivili started. It did take me back to my younger days :-). Nice funny one.
Why the hell then did it weigh that much! 5" TV...you sure? Did it stop with the *&#***, and you guys were not thulped, you sure?!
ROFL.. that's tooooooooooooo good :)
ah this one almost happened to me too after sending off a crossword game. I was told I won a colour tv but my dad was able to see through the fraud. I was only 14 or 15 yrs then.
The TV looks good man, how did you guys put it to use? lol...
:-)
didnt know such nano TVs were available in the market!
I could not stop laughing!!! What was that!!!!! It would have been better if the poor parents sent some money to that guy so that he could have gone and himself bought TV!!!
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