A night at Paestum...

I was busy with “my dear” flow cytometer.. now if anyone knows me for the past seven months wouldn’t have missed my talk on this little machine... one of my good friends out here… Suddenly I here a voice “ Anna, This time its just a one day trip to home.. would you like to join me!!!”. For a second I did not realise she was talking to me… was looking at the cytogram on the computer.. She put her hand around me.. and repeated again..God.. there was something with this girl… I somehow found myself getting closer.. donno for what reason.. a very quick real comfortable zone.. !!!

I AGREED…

The next day, she told me , she got the tickets…

The next day… I went to work.. and directly from there we left to her home,, it was almost a two hours journey.. I really wonder at times… how on earth I could just connect to people , I mean really a lot even if I know them so little.. on the other hand, even if I had known someone for years, I usually prefer to listen… that’s strange… cos usually I listen more and talk less,,, Sometimes may be I see me in some people… is that true or I pretend to or manipulate events I do not know.. but one thing is clear… that I connect to people in whom I see me…Am I being selfish???or am I genuinely accepting the other person into my life… I really need to find an answer!!!

Ooops.. so we got into the train…. I got the tickets as a gift!!! All the way we were talking, played word games after a real looooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg time… cos most of them here do not understand English and even if they do, they do not speak...thats good in a way cos its like Taub's treatment.. conditional training of Italian!!!

he he he..

So we arrived at Paestum , went to her home.. it was neat and compact... Somehow Paestum reminded me of coimbatore especially RS puram and Colony...the structure of the road and the atmosphere was totally different from Naples...a sense of calmness just poured in as we went into this city...

alright so we, went to her home and then just five mins relaxation.. then off to basket ball match.. she is actually a player and a coach!!! The moment she entered the stadium, all the kids surrounded her and hugged her... it was a beautiful sight... just reminded me of bala ka,Sr Florine and JB Mam...my teachers in both life and academics... hmmm.. next was comedy session... She introduced me to all those kids . One of them asked me if i was a basket ball player and i said "NO, but my sister is one!!!"Immediately two girls and a boy ran to fetch a ball for me...and they started to teach me to play basketball.. (all in italian haan...)

it was a nice experience though!!!

okie so the match started... after such a looooonnnnnnnnnggggg time i got to see basket ball match... actually it reminded me of so many incidents,,, Me giving lift to my sister for her basket ball coaching classes in "my ladybird"... the basketball ground in St Josephs and all those games hours.... "Bank, river, ocean ,sea"(a game that we played in the basketball ground when we were not allowed to play basketball!!!)(kutty paapa game but still it was nice!!!), Dhivya , rajiika and all those matches i watched in GD and joseph's... god so many things ...hmmm now the match started... it was a good match.. there was this no. 4 in the opposite team.. i guess she was the main person.. she was seriously amazing,,,

I was sitting along with some parents of the kids who actually made me into a sort of cheer leader,, All of us were shouting "Forza Cappacio" followed by three claps... which means play with more force... "Cappacio" was the name of the team!!!(that reminded me of Common INDIA...)Anyways the opposite team won and after the match they served biscuits and cakes... all home made.. it was yummy... infact Rosaria's brother packed some for the next day after the 6 cakes that he galloped!!!

So now that the match was over, we decided to go out for dinner, and she had a group of friends out there... it took almost 40 mins to actually decide the place to go for dinner.. finally decided to go to salerno, a nearby city to eat pizza...

i was wondering if i would be eating a midnight dinner... and exactly the same happened,,, we reached salerno at around 11 and the road was filled with traffic... oh my god.. so many people were out at that hour... and finally got a parking space after 1/2 an hour search... almost 45 mins after we entered the city.. the car moved like a snail...prbably even more sluggish than a snail... that actually reminded me of the days at Chennai.. the traffic at tidel park... usually I get down at TYMR station and change a bus to get to my university in the first year... but most of the days i end up walking to the university from the railway station as it was more fast and i need not wait in the crowd.. that was a huuuuuugggeeee crowd out there from school students to it employees and many others from all walks of life trying to reach their destinations... obviously one can hear all the abusive words that poured from the drivers of autorickshaws, buses, cars... there was no discrimination in this.... ok ok .. now we parked the car and walked towards a common meeting place where all the friends met to gether as we split ourselves into two groups before we left paestum... Alright now there were additional two groups.. friends of friends... and we walked for quite sometime.. though t was a night walk by the sea... etho anniyama irunthathu... (i did not get the right word in english...) but the street were all decorated with grand lights and various designs.. it was beautiful to watch...

Another half an hour discussion to decide the restaurant and finally one native of Salerno suggested a pizzeria...

we reached there and each of us ordered each type and shared.. it was nice... but as barath says usually " I was feeling alone in the crowd",Finally we spoke about various things as each one was in different profession Rosaria's bro was an archeology student, Kika was the editor of a local newspaper.. and she was with her boyfriend... and there was another doctor, she was from Boston... it was good...

finally we finished and then went back home... i was dreaming about all those school days and the time spent during the games classes, the cement tree!!! faiz and me studying together for public exams!!! the get- together we had in school,my mother's chenna Briyani.... the rock garden that we made near the ground those line of coconut trees bordering the basketball ground... XI A classroom, Tamil classes ... sccccccccrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeccccccccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... there was a break..... we reached home at 3.00 am...

i guess that was my first night out in Italy....

It was so strange that their parents did not bother about their kids coming home so late,no scolding, no calling names,,, it was very casual...

Indeed that reminded me I was in Italy!!!