Peanut

The literal translation of the topic into tamil is 'kadalai'.Many of us use this word to describe the act of boy(s) and girl(s) talking to each other. Off late I have started observing that not all these acts can be claimed into simple peanut putting,as there are certain subtle differences.These are just based on my observations on seeing people in the restaurant and a train.Unmaikku purambagavum irukalam.

Degree IV - Group peanut

This is the intial stage after the boys meets the girls. Be it in college or at workplace they stick around as a group(normally four - two guys and two girls).
In a restaurant four seater table, one can find two girls sitting on one side of the table and the two guys on the other side of the table. It will be good to watch when these guys try to talk the girls in with topics ranging from their funny neighbours to the big fight they had with the other set of guys the other day.
In a train one can see a group of people boarding the general compartment and the same sort of jokes continue here too. If the girls dont stay in the same area, its jackpot for the guys. Even if the guy stays in tambaram he would accompany the girl till kodambakkam, buying a concession student train pass using some 'vivekandar theru,thupai' address in kodambakkam.

Degree III - Individual Kadalai

In this stage the girl and guy are not in the group or rather they have started isolating themselves from the group.
In a restaurant they usually sit in front of each other.They usually talk louder and discuss items that really matter like - 'Which side dish you like for Idly?.I like sambhar very much'.Answer 'Really..thats great.you know what..I too like sambhar very much.But chutney also is a good combination.' I beleive after having watched so many tamil movies one would now have trouble identifying who would ask such important questions.
In a train the girl usually sits in the ladies compartment and the guy talks with her until the train starts and once it starts he boards the next compartment. Every 10 secs a message is received in his cell phone which is opened with all due respect and a smile across his face and promptly replied in the next 3 seconds.

Degree II - Lip-reading kadalai

After some days of Individual kadalai, the two now are into the next stage.
In a restaurant one can see that these two sit next to each other in a four seater table.When you watch them one might be surprised to see them munching the Ice cream so violently.A couple of seconds later the giggle sound you hear would then clarify things. They have been actually talking to each other in such a low voice, which they decode only by lip-reading techinque and not by actually listening.Heard that there are special classes conducted to get people trained with such lip-reading skills(strictly proclaimed to be teaching only lip-reading).
Even expert eavesdroppers have failed miserably in trying to listen to these peanuts, by sitting just behind the couple in the train.It has been widely concluded that even the Weasley twins extendable ears from Harry potter would not be able to overhear them.The only clue that suggests that they are in the train is the giggles that you hear every 3 minutes.

Degree I - Mind-reading Kadalai

What next after Lip-reading?.(No..not that).Its Mind-reading.In this stage they dont have to see each other or talk to each other.They have a feeling that the other person is always next to them.
In a train one can see these two standing and then looking at each other without talking a word to each other , which at times will make you wonder if they are under a spell.Intial reports suggests that by looking at each other some wave signals are generated that are used for kadalai.But it is also beleived that these signals have frequencies matching that of radio michi and so just by looking into each other they can listen to the songs telecast by mirchi.How coooool!!!!! and during the commercials their kadalai would continue.

A typical kadalai of this degree I saw a couple of days back.There was this guy sitting in the office cab,reserving a seat for his girl to come and join him.Suddenly he remembered something and furiously he dialled her number.But then the next moment(after hearing her) his voice softened 'Hey,where are you'.His expressions suggested that he is fuming, but his voice didn't.That however is not our point of interest.But how come he suddenly remembered that she is not with him. On further analysis I found out that the cab driver has tuned into mirchi and so our hero was listening to a romantic song that he usually hears when she is near him thru the mind-reading mechanism.But when radio mirchi telecasted the commercials he realised that he is hearing it through the radio and not through mind-reading.So one can safely conclude that the mirchi songs heard in the case of degree I kadalai is devoid of commercials.

There is another degree of kadalai putting, surprisingly these guys put kadalai alone, yeah without the other gender present.One can find them standing near the door in the train.BTW if you are still confused on how they put kadalai alone, its very simple.When you travel by train next time, buy peanut for 1 rupee from the kadalai payyan.Take a peanut in your hand and put it in your mouth.Continue this till you exhaust the 1 rupee worth kadalais. Apparently this peanut putting cannot be classified into any of the categories above, but these peanut putters are the ones who dont fail to observe the above trivial things.