A letter to Susi.Ganesan

Black screen...

L/A shot...suddenly lights up into a colorful bunch of beautiful trees..can hear the wind whistling and crunching of dried leaves....u see a beautiful road dotted with trees on both sides and colorful flowers strewn on the road...with old fashioned buildings... and bright new ones.
first day in a college which he dreamt of... an engineering degree..appada first dream successful…
Senthil enters in a beautiful yellow shirt and a tight lee jeans unaware of the danger waiting by..
(inside voice...dey what u thought of doing and what are u doing now..nee sathiyama verum padam paathey azhiya porae)
he bumps into a group of guys..a well built senior with small eyes kick starts the show..
"Oth...inga vaada ... entha college da...
"MCC"
"MCCna ?"

"Madras Christian College".
"MCCnna periya parrupa.. (dey murali ..un juniora da ..amam da..) -senior waves at me and walks away , me watchin helplessly.
"Not really"
"adinga ..thamizhla pesuda"
got a tap on my head
"entha faculty''?
"Aeronautical Engineering."
ohhhhhhh ...
"placementae kediayathuda"
a stream of fear wipes thro me.When I was about to leave..im stopped again.
"oth…engada porae.. nee enga nikirae theriyuma".....punithargal irrukura edamda..
vizhunthu kumbidu" vaazhga Birla hostellnu kathhu"..
i did .
"M.I.T manthiram theriyumada...OOm thirigona mathiya.."
"enna manthiramnga...?"
"enna manthirama...?
suddenly he looks around and spots a person walkin towards the MESS.
"avaaru thaan college union chairman ..avar kitta poi kelu"..

(ivara ..chairman ...looks very simple..mm)

excuse me M.I.T manthiramna ennanga.. ?!


"dey seniornu solluda mundam ...manavanae nee innaikku gaalli da....

he watches me with his sharp small eyes ..and smiles beautifully and turns back to those guys and taps his head "dey wudungada"..and looks at me and casts a friendly smile..


"avanga kitteyae poi kelu..smiles again and walks away...
and i ve seen him talking furiously to guys with so much concern when some of the seniors threw "fire crackers" on girl students..went as a large procession to meet the director..of the college..
..bringing kamalhassan ..for MITAFEST... and many film personalities…

..after the raggin day , i met him a couple of times ..always thought that something is attractive in this man...

uma madam was asking me .."senthil what u want to become"..?

"IAS Officer !"- (I bursted into laughter inside ..dey porruki..cinema cinemannu sutthura..unaku IAS officer aavanuma)
Well I was busy with my studies ( ha ha) and scripts for MITAFEST the following year , which was recd very well ..it was a stage show ...
--Though im a day scholar ,I was asked to make a script for "wasting food " in the mess" which was also appreciated by MITans.

(started writing and composing a song with our A.R.Rehman(kalyan) and the most handsome man during our period(rajkumar) with a "kattu" beedi in our guest house .Started at 9.00 pm and when we completed we were shocked to know we
were staying awake till 5.00 am )

...giving a excellent dance performance in College of Engineering GUINDY (" usilampatti pen kutti").. (aana got rockets and lot of ketta vaarthai’s from college guys for a creative idea of bringing "nothing but wind"(or How to name it..?) concept visually on stage.

The worst part is that my sis along with her friend was sitting in the first row.

Can still remember vaidehi and Michaels heart filling laughter for my not so humorous "skit"
During MITAFEST when I was in my
2nd year.My mother was in the hospital at that time after
A train accident that morning (she is now paati for 3 grandchildren).

I did the programme for "HER.." just to see "HER" from the stage.she didn’t come.soman was very angry with me..oth..ur mother is in hospital and now u r here to see "HER’..unakku arivae kedaiyathuda..ennada "love" ithu.miyre…

HOLI- the most enjoyable event during our MIT days..but it wont be colorful .All our
guys will be dumped as "kuppai" in a water tank near 'Raajam hostel"...
-FRIDAY MOVIES - We will be more exicted in watching the songs than the actual movie..
I remember the first song is always "jodi kili inge vanthu nillu" - from "padikaathavan.
enna senior correct thaane..?
-How exiciting it was to see "punnagai mannan " after a lovely dinner on the last
day of our ragging ritual when suddenly all seniors turned into friends ..wow..thats MIT.

when our queens arrive for the show, we can hear trumpet blowing ( i donno where he
got that ) from santhanaraj's(ELECS) room.
-How can i forget such places like our Dear canteen (where most of our times are spent),
-The second table in the reference section room of our LIBRARY( when i first talked to HER)
-How many laughters , how many tears ..?

still remember my friends listening to my titanic level stories in Raajam hostel..we are blessed with the last room .from .where we can see our college queens ?? in their hostel verandah.
"machi nee mattum director aana .okkali..naan thaan hero..(neelakandan always screams at his highest decibels")
"heroine..?
"3rd electronics la ..superb figure da oyarama sevappa olliya ..sportsla ellam kalakuavaangada ..
"dey senior da..."
"miyre iruntha enna ''("he he he ha ha "’)...

"senthil why u came to MIT for making films ..u should have joined film institute.."-some of my friends were seriously worried about me.
I felt like maniratnam when I presented a sequence of songs with my "kavithai’?? under the title "kamam" in radio FM.(thanks to soman)

And my poem appearing in MIT MAGAZINE written for "HER".
MIT days passed by with dreams and only dreams. (and so much of kaikoodatha kaadhal).never had an intention of working..so the results..last rank in the class..
most of my "auto"friends in the same list.(later they came out with flying colors
joining TATA , A/L and BAJAJ AUTO)
My HOD called me once and put his hands on my shoudlers"actually unnaku enna problem senthil" en class ellam katt pannre"...what u want to become..?
"Sir .. I want to be in films... with that I walked away slowly sensing his curious looks behind my back..

"Geometrical Drawing "- tamil porai ...no chance for u to clear ur B.tech""ROMBA KASHTAMGA" he shirks his shoulders and walks away.(but had a kind heart in taking special classes for some of us)
--how i laughed when i saw sivaguru(visha guru?? )..face turning pale
when he saw his maths internal marks..for your information i got 7 out of 40.I was about to hold my heart when i saw one of my friend who got a beautiful round "0" for 40.
appada...naan mattum illa...when i told him his mark ..he casually walked away with a gold flake plain cigarette dangling in his lips .."podeyyyy" ..
drinking tea or cofee in MIT mess without getting ur T.NO recorded is a challenge.
suddenly from no where ARJUN(mess incharge) will come" sir naan note panitten sir "04613 " thaanae"
"un nyabasakthilae kalla poda"
kalyan(P.E), michael(P.E) and me . - the wonderful team of dream makers ..struggling for contacts and talk, breath only cinema.
I was so happy to understand that I wont get any placement and can venture directly into it..but ..I cleared all my papers ..I got placement in APOLLO TYRES( the most sought out Tyre company that time )DELHI.. JK..CHENNAI..ippo MALAYSIA

Avvalavuthaan..but the fire burns still deep down below ..its my passion...my dream..my life...

SENIOR! !!

I NEVER HAD THE SLIGHEST KNOWLEDGE THAT U WILL BE JOINING FILMS DURING MIT DAYS...I wept when I saw FIVE STAR .En theriyuma.. MITiye base panni I ve return almost 5 scripts..No body would have got the thrill and exictement as How I would have got it.. en senior padam ..en senior padam ..solli solli vaai valichiruchu..u know how many phone calls i got from my friends who want to tell me this about FIVE STAR.. Aaana later I realised how difficult is to create a movie .and ur sacrifices for that...ungalakku enna kandippa nyabagam irrukaathu. I know. Senior ! ..naan unga kitta irunthu orey oru mail thaan ethirpaakiren..afterall im ur junior... with the same passions and desires ..
im stoppin this mail and start keyin my new script( another one which is going to sleep deep down my cupboard) sittin in my apts in 18th floor in Kualalumpur.

'I can see the sun rays sparkling high above the dome of twin towers which travels at a lightining speed and blinds my eyes... I close my eyes..drifting away in my dreams…

''I can hear a feeble sound of music coming from a distance.." THIRU THIRUDA..THIRU THIRUDA..THEENCHUVAI NAANADA..
"dey avana wudungada" - the smile of now "SUSI GANESAN " fades out in slow motion shot..

Senior ...awaiting ur reply excitedly...naan ippo MIT manthiram correcta solluven senior….
(senior unga padathula ennaku ore oru chinna role kudunga...parat parat ..scracthing my head with a "kasi" smile )
-athanae paathen...ennada innum vaaya thorakkalayennu.
(unkalluku romba naala mail annupannummu aasai..ill be very happy if I would have brought a small grin at the corner of your lips)
MIT days marakamudiyuma senior ..sollunga...


junior ( 43rd batch B.TECH( Rubber Tech))

SENTHIL