The Juan Carlos Blog 1

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and felt the searing heat singe my hair.The breeze felt like a blast furnace.Yep,I was in India alright...no mistakes.Chennai...here at last,what a journey to land up here.I walked into the school building and looked around at the funniest uniform ever!Blue blue and blue like a security guard!!

S.B.O.A Anna Nagar.My first impression was 'What the hell have I got myself into?'A sea of unfamiliar faces speaking a tongue I am not proficient in...I been here before...I looked around for 11 F and finally found it.

And then it happened!!!The moment that every guy waits for!I almost could not believe my eyes.Yes it was true.Right here in the middle of nowhere!!!!A familiar face!

Short,dark and handsome this guy was instantly familiar and then I knew it.I had seen him before in my old school.Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to introduce S.R.Murugan!I went up to him and he recognised me!This day was getting better alright.

"Hi da I am Murugan!".I could have hugged him but I sedately said "I'm Jhonnn.."

Blank look

"Jhonnnn"

Blank look again

"Jon"

Puzzled expression

"Jovan"

Raised eyebrow

"JOHN"

"Ah Ok ok...arent you from Saudi?".....

There was something comforting in seeing him...Then after introductions were over he told me the bad news that he was actually in 11 E.We weren' in the same class!I was less than happy about this but well least he is in the next class.He introduced me to his friend Prem something...who turned out to be in my class.

So Our class began and My life in India was just starting.I looked around at the wooden benches,fans,windows and did I mention blue uniforms.But there was an even bigger nightmare awaiting me....

The class had.....GIRLS!!'Yikes...we don have those in Saudi!!!'I looked over at Prem,him with funny beard and moustache and an equally shell shocked expression!Apparently switching from his old school to here was an almost equal culture shock and he actually used the 'F' word and that took me by suprise.Maybe he was not the ideal person to sit with?

The roll call began and I heard "Antony John Pitchai Carolin".Wazzat???Prem looked at me with a bemused look and said "Thats your name?"

I was in India alright.....

The Stingh?

Some say he has a beard.

Some say he is a 'terror'ist.

Some say he is a petrol head.

Some say he has a 'kondai'...

And I will call him ....The Stingh (Stig + Singh for all you slow learners!)

If you haven't already guessed who this is you should stop reading.

With a name as strange as Tandeep Singh Jandu this guy has been one of the two people who has had the biggest impact on my life.If you read Clive Cussler his character Al Giordano probably perfectly describes Tan the Man.

Short but built like a bulldozer with a cigarette dangling from his bearded lip and driving a bike far heavier than him(u wonder how he does that?).There is one difference though...Al usually gets his girl.I can imagine Tan reading this and thinkin "Dei naaye Prem I do get them."

But this is my blog as I pointed out before.Its my version of things.

Introducción

In 5th standard when I first came to Chennai and PSBB a fateful thing hapnd.Our class teacher Usha ma'am made me sit with The Stingh(least the mini version).In front was Jag and KK.That

was the intro and the beginning of 'The Quartet'.

The ebulient (I don know the spelling) Singh was very likeable.He spoke well and I think its safe to say we hit it off from that time.The 4 of us got on famously but obviously I was closest to Tan the Man.

Influencia

One of his big influences would come in I think 6th standard when he introduced me to the world of music....Stereo Nation,Bryan Adams,BSB, Bon Jovi would all be cities in Europe to me unless Tan had told me about them. To this day Bryan Adams songs remind me of said turbanator.

Non Influencia-La Stig

The one thing he probably tried numerous times but failed was to get me interested in cars or bikes.For some reason things that have wheels do not interest me!!But maybe it was those singular differences which made us get along.His love always fascinated me.Its one of those 'cool' things I wish I could do but cant.Take a nice T bird and ride 200 miles into the sun.

But I did ride a Dio for 20 miles in Goa...does that count Tan??Top Gear also you told me about.

The Singh

He is a typical punjabi in lovin wine,women and wheels...(I think thats the wrong order mate!)

In dec of 2001,we had all gone to Vizag and got a room previously occupied by 3 girls.The room smelt like 3 girls had been there (Girls reading this blog-room stank to heavens!!!,boys-u get the drift...).Enter the hero of Chirasamudram aka..Rajesh.He very smartly sprayed his deodorant all over our room to mask the smell of socks and clothes.

We then assumed the crisis had passed and sneakily ordered Chicken 65(Brahmin School machan!!).We gorged down our hidden food and sat down to watch a....well....hmm...uh....Cricket match!!!(minors may be reading this!)

But the crisis was just beginning.

The smell of deo+old socks+ Chicken 65=ALCOHOL SMELL

this was a formula we did not know about.At 1 am there was a loud banging on our doors.As we groggily opened our hotel room the '10K' guys barged in and demanded the above mentioned Alcohol!

They rampaged thru our room and even opened the flush to see where we had hidden the stash.Needless to say they didnt find the non existent Alcohol.they cursed our selfishness and left.

We spent the rest of the night talkin with messrs Vinay(lawyer now) and Bachchu(Business magnate).The next day we were red eyed and walkin around sleepily!!!nobody ever believed our story that there was no spirits!!

Little did I imagine that day the first time I would drink would be with that same person !!

More to come later....