Alexander Babu:

              Would you believe if I said I met Alexander Babu alias Alex the comedian, who calls everyone with love as "chellams", in the middle of Chennai on a serene and beautiful street, unexpectedly.

              I was travelling with my family to visit the marudheeshwarar temple in thiruvanmayur, almost on a whim we decided to visit the Vethathiri Maharishi's(VM) vazhaga valamudan centre.  Its located on a peaceful and breezy and almost pondicherry ashram like road. I hail from OMR area where literally the traffic feels like its coming from inside your home rather than on the streets. So to me, yes it was like heaven on earth. As my father parked the car and I just got out to enjoy the view. To top it off it was a cul-de-sac, no traffic - unbelievable place in Chennai. Thoughts began to form, "no wonder maharishi lived in a place like this and built upon an empire of yoga and learning. The centre houses a padasalai, front office, book centre, cafeteria and a siddha clinic. 

              From the corner of my eye I saw a guy in shorts and t's with a backpack pulling on the sunshades and locking his car on the other side of the road. He turned and started walking towards our side of the road as we were departing further to enter to the VM's centre. My brain jolted - I know this face, very familiar where where and the the fog cleared - that's Alex........Alex.....Alex in wonderland.....Aelxander Babu.  

              A bit later i realized i was actually vocalizing my thought priocess.....mind voice velila ketrucha....?!Alex turned towards me as we were crossing paths and in that moment I realized contrary to the scene of the road I was actually his spoiling his peace by intruding when he was on personal business. My rational side was telling to step away, but everyone has an irrational side right? So that side was already shaking hands with him. The rational side took over and asked him, " are you busy?" something i always ask my friends to make sure they are in the right frame of mind for a chat. Alex probably wondered what does that mean? I am always busy, just started on another tour of "nagerkoyil expressum nadaga companiyum". The irrational side took over but amazingling said some rational things like "Alex, I am a recent fan of yours. I really enjoyed the musical (did'nt remember the name then....one of the many things I didnt say). Alex smiled and said, "Thank you! Are you a student here pointing to maharishi's centre." I was like ,"no i came with my family and they are the ones interested...like no...i am not the one...for these kind of things. Again not sure what Alex was thinking but I was racking my brain to see how else to take the conversation further.  All this while my parents are standing right behind me and I din't think to introduce them to him. Of course they were like what ....who....why is my daughter talking to this person..? I completely lost my emotional intelligence if at all i had any. I quickly said thank you and all the best or something like that and moved away. 

              I must say it was very sweet of Alex to stop for a chat, just wish had more time and presence of mind to share a few more thoughts with him and to take a selfie. Of course no matter how old you are, once you see a celebrity you get a brain freeze and forget your parents(:-P). Once you recover what do you do? You are chiding yourself on why did'nt ask that or say that other thing that you have thought about while you were actually enjoying the celebrity's show. There is one more thing you do, you pick up your phone and call your friend. Yes I did, called my bestie and said "Hey machi, you know what di?", I just met Alex.........Babu....Oh yeah and the conversation went for 15 minutes, only two minutes about the unexpected meet up but more so about what I did not do in that short time frame. She shared my excitement and enthusiasm and scolded my for not taking a selfie...nanbi di nanbi,,.,,,,We (or more so I did) made a mental note to come up with a strategy and a few lines I would say when i meet someone else next time (next time?) Until then....

            Alex....I truly enjoyed your Alex in Wonderland show, particularly the Sirkazhi govindarajan part with the Gopal.....nama ini sendhikavendam Gopal....Ungalaku enna pathi nalla theriym illa, enaku irupadhey oray kadhudhan...". I am very happy for you have found your passion in life and took steps to fulfill it.  This is coming for a another one of those ex(exhausted) software engineers....and I do take your advice. "Poga poga ellam sariya poyidum...".

You are gifted singer, musician and your Tanglish is excellent !!! God bless !!!

Best,
Suhanya.Kumarasamy@gmail.com