Nagala

Yes, the sun rises in Chennai. But on that day, I did wonder how many of us would miss it if it did not turn up one morning... Granted, we will miss the light, but who will miss the beauty?

That was just the start of the day. Seen above is the sunrise among koyambedu traffic. But, it was a different sunset for me that day. It felt nice to be there to witness the beauty away from the blaring horns and the dust and smoke.

Good people, Nagalapuram waits, for those who care to explore, roughly 2 hours north of chennai.

Images en route.

First view
Fruits of labour

Fringe benefits ;) - the fishes give me a free pedicure in crystal clear waters

Closing ceremony

A day of pebble paths, unforgiving rocks, cuts and bruises, photography, nature, like minded company, pure air, pristine water and a shy sunset. I rate it first class! :)

The pleasure of nonsense. We are loving it

Temporary brain coma made enjoyable by our Thalaivar.

Rajnikanth starrer Endhiran (the robot) released last friday to unprecedented ticket buy-outs and the usual craziness that is attached to any Rajni release. We all can send zillion jokes about Rajni, but the undeniable truth is that he gives real meaning to the phrase 'larger than life'.

This most expensive project of Indian movie industry had made more than what was spent in its making before it saw the first weekend out. Still going strong, it will probably be the best money maker that tamil/hindi cinema has ever seen.

Getting tickets to watch the spectacle.

Come on brains, lets play dead, it will be fun :D

It must be love...

What other sensible explanation is there?

In all my years of living in this city, I have never experienced this kind of weather. the last time we had a real hot day was in the month of May. Ever since then we have not had two weeks in a row without rains or thunder or at least the drizzles and the clouds.

In fact, maximum days, there were just the light showers - the best kind of rain. Of course, there were also many days when it lashed out all the water that the sky could possibly have collected!

Here is the other thing, the confusing days. The day starts bright and then clouds up and then comes the rain, the night brings lightning. And the days that start all drippy and rainy sometimes brings up the sun soon after! Should we carry our raincoats or dab on the sunscreen? Turns out, the raincoat has had the maximum wins.

Whatever happened to hot-hotter-hottest (the most over-used weather phrase when it comes to describing Chennai). What about those good ol sweltering days with no respite from the sun?

What is really happening to my city? Is Chennai in love? Why else will it have so many drizzles and so many mood swings?

Whatever it is, it is a nice feeling :) I do hope this lasts. (notwithstanding the damage this love affair does to our roads)

lets start seeing other people

I don’t know how to start. (pause)

In any relationship, when we get to a point when we feel that its not worth it, we should start to move on and that’s what happened with us.

Its really nothing personal, we just grew apart.









There is someone else in my life...

I am sorry.



Uff… thank god I do not have to do this, as newspaper readerships are not exclusive.

When Times of India came to Chennai, I was one of those skeptical maamis holding tight to my copy of the Hindu and whispering ‘No one will ever take your place’.

But 2 years down the line, I have to admit, Times of India won me over. It had me, heart and soul, with its ‘upper crest’, edition 1.

TOI just did what Deccan chronicle never could. Tamilians consider DC a mere tabloid, the other English news papers as non-existent and the Hindu as the bible. When TOI stepped in, it was clear that it does not belong to the ‘non-existent’ class, but more in the DC class. Slowly but surely, I noticed Tamil households switching over to TOI from TH, initially for budget reasons. ‘But its cheap’ and stayed on as TOI subscribers even though ‘but its not cheap anymore!’.

Mine was a total different case. I still look at TOI news as masala coated and stir fried. Started of by placing it in between the Indian express and the Hindu. I lost my heart more recently when I laid my hands on TOI’s Saturday additional paper ‘the upper crest’. Priced at Rs.6, its not the regular news paper, but a treasure trove of articles that touch on global current affairs, moods, issues etc. Its good enough that I am willing to ignore the masala coating and the unreasonable outbursts of the TOI journalists.

Coming back to The Hindu, I still like the news, love the metro plus, still shake my head knowing/lovingly when I see the editor's apology for missing an 'r' in the previous edition page number '..' under news item '...', Still love the language, the prose and I still read it whenever I see it lying around in the office. It really touched me when I saw the declaration that Hindu would plant one tree for every copy of newspaper it prints! Thats something I will respect the Hindu forever for. But.....but I wish, it would move faster with the times. oops, pun un-intended

One for today, one for tomorrow

Hot sun !
Month of may !!
Chennai !!!
Humidity that could melt u into a pool of boiling sweat !!!!

the only allowance - bright orange and yellow, plump, sweet, juicy..

MANGOS (5!) - the sole reason why summers were ever made!

So off I went to the spencers daily to buy some for the weekend. I didnt wait to look at the snack bar, didnt wait to gawk at the cosmetics shelf. for once, hopped happily to the fruits counter.

The place was not crowded, had just one other customer, about fiftyish person looking thoughtfully at the pomegranates. He also moved to the mango section as I neared it. I bent down examined some fruits and picked one up that looked neither shiny nor matt thinking 'this would do'. Fiftyish hunk straightened his back, looked at my fruit, took it out of my hand and put it back on the counter. did i see him shake his head as well??

'WHAT?!?'

I dont want violence. I am all for world peace. But then hey, do not grab the fruit that i picked out!

Anyway, with me being an ahimsak (!) i did not resort to any violence, I just moved a little away from the fruit grabber and threw my best nasty look at him (which went unnoticed). I continued to choose and picked out another one. 'hmm, perfect!'

but then, he grabbed that too from my hand shaking his head! The mere audacity!!

For reasons beyond reasoning, i felt like laughing! Not able to comprehend the actions of a seemingly normal person, i just stopped and stared, not knowing what to do next.

He put back my glossy mango, still looking at the counter in deep thought, picked out 2 ugly but healthy looking fruits and handed them to me, one by one, saying
'idhu innikku'
'idhu naalaiku'

this one for today
this one for tomorrow

I was speechless for a moment.
'wow! how do you know which ones to pick?'
'fruit grower' he said by way of explanation. Man of few words.

I thanked him and smiled at him, but then mr.fruit grower ignored me in totality after he knew that I did not want any more fruits picked out.

I heeded his advice and had one yesterday and one today and must say, they were really perfect. the best ones I have had this summer.

I dont know if the fruit grower was simply a friendly person, or was someone who could not leave his job behind. I would like to think of him as a nice friendly person, whose ways are different, but sincere :)

He made my day. twice actually. once yesterday, once today :)

Lets go fishing

After living in Chennai city for 7 long years, its only now that I realized one of tthe culinary joys of living on the coast!

Freshly fried fish!! the kind thats sold on the beach from makeshift shops.

The oil used to fry the fish is questionable. you dont know when the fish last saw the sea. you dont know how well (if actually) they cleaned the fish... there are a dozen other reasons why it is risky to try eating it, which is why i had never tried it till now.

Weeks ago when Shonali Muthalaly of the hindu metroplus came out with an article of how the reporters tried the fish from these shops and lived to write about it, I figured, i have lived in this city this long, I might as well take advantage of it. and given my craziness for fish it wasnt a very difficult decision

Now, to gather the task force, I wasnt planning to go eat there all by myself. So I started hunting for 'the right person(s)'. Need not be tall, dark, handsome, but should be brave, adventurous, daring, any gender! The reactions that I got from prospects (my friends)

What the!?

Nahiiiiii.....

crazy??

but anyway...like all things that end well, my search was fruitful. I did find one soul who was willing to try it out! Thank you thank you dear Rosh..sniff.. (happy tears)
this post is dedicated to you! :P

On the appointed D day, we surveyed the whole stretch of shops which were roughly 2 dozen in number before finally settling on the multi-coloured plastic stools and chairs for that ideal fried fish reverie. They displayed masala covered fishes of different castes and creeds. We had chosen a shop that kept their wares covered in transparent plastic sheets. We were asked to choose the fish we wanted. once chosen, it was taken out and slipped into the oil kadai, then served hot with chopped onions and a lemon quarter.

First try: half a tiny fish :)
The next day, I smsed to see if my friend is also ok.

Second try: three pieces of fish. and we agreed it was yummy!

Will I try it again: You bet!

whats a perfect day

This blog is late by a day (not that someone was waiting for it anyway..

Yesterday, was THE day. just the thought of it fills my heart with joy.
no, im not talking about the olympic gold. Thats national joy, of course i am happy about it. Kudos to Abhinav Bindra, and good luck to Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. I hope he betters his Athens silver to a Beijing gold this time.

here, i am talking about a single soul's jubiliation. the 11th day of August, year 2008, i started from home, 9.15 AM in the morning, and , AND not a single red light stopped me en route office, even though the roads were crowded with vehicles. it was just green, green and more green. is this really my city? sometimes, we get so lucky that we are surprised, words fail us.. thinking abt yesterday, oh it chokes me.. sniff..

im not putting this up here for the heck of it, just needed to remember that days like yesterday do happen, they havent stopped making them yet.

thats not to say that i was on time. i was late to office, but thats a different story you see.

on second thoughts, this whole thing of one waying the city roads is not so bad eh.

Mashing it up by Elliots

When we want to celebrate Chennai, what do we do? We go to the beach! Obviously.

So thats what a gang of us were doing on Saturday evening at the Elliots beach, among the incessant waters, countless people and the delicious roasting corn.

The waves and the amazing stillness before another break-out of the waves.. Ah Chennai. Ya, this well frog knows no better :) frankly, i dont care to. I am happy with ma Chennai!

After walking aimless on the sidewalks we settled at MASH to snack. This is one place that I had always wanted to go to. because it has an open design, totally taking advantage of the sea breeze, was higher than ground level (first floor) and had a table that ovelooks the road, the crowd and then the sea itself. and as luck may have it, we got that table.

I could not ask for more. But more happened, the heavens gates opened and it started pouring. It was amusing to watch the over-crowded beach emtying in under 20 seconds as people ran for cover from the rain.

As for me, I sat at the table with stowaway drizzles patting me now and then. The place had a good roof, it never leaked for the water to get in.

Now about the food. Mash has one of those amusing menu cards with the likes of 'Jame's Bondas' and 'Aachi kari stroganoff'. We settled for fish n chips and a panneer sandwich (for the unfortunate veggie).

With 3 of us and 2 dishes served on the table, of course a lot of fighting and haggling followed with the food disappearing in a matter of seconds leaving us with ‘Is that all??’

I dont remember if the food tasted good, so no comments on taste or quality. actually, the food was gone even before there was a chance for evaluation.

Friends, waves, food and a drizzle - a perfect weekend, stuff that totally guarantees future nostalgia!

As we were still lazing on the verandah, my friend got a call from home ordering him to get back home. His folks were worried. Bangalore had a series of 8 bomb blasts on Friday, and today (Saturday) Ahmedabad had 18.

it was all over the TV news. All the blasts were aimed at civilians, all in highly public areas. There was an expert panel on TV and in their opinion, Chennai is probably the next targeted city.

Where would someone plant bombs if the target was Chennai? Spencer plaza, Pondy Bazar, Marina, Elliots....Silence prevailed as we looked out at the waters.

’Err..Hey its nearly 8’
‘Ya, getting late’
‘We better leave’
‘hmm yeah’

With the showers ending their performance and just a slight drizzle playing, we went our ways. That doesnt mean my future nostalgic moments are spoilt, just that we have one more item to add to the exotic list, bomb threat! well, not very exotic if u ask me

Vanakkam Chennai

"The Times of India" comes to Chennai, and how! Jingles on radio, ads on TV, hoardings on the road - these are just the regular ways any product is publicised. The Times of India's publicity for entry in to Chennai has just proved that Times is indeed part of the intelligent media brigade.

Apart from the regular ways of marketing, Times is also promoting the newspaper, through events. Here are just two observations from a Chennaite who has got minimum media exposure.

Usually in TN, when we move into a new locality and occupy a house for the first time, we visit the neighbours/get the neighbours visit our house.

Times has got ARRehman performing live, for free! Those who need passes have to collect them from the newspaper's office. What a way to say "we have arrived!"

Today when I stepped out of the apartment building for the morning walk, a bright white and cheerful kolam with "Times of India" awaited me at the porch, where they usually have the kolam drawn.

From thereon, I saw this happy kolam announcing the Times at every doorstep! This is some work of SOME brain! Really, what an idea! the last time i was so impressed with a marketing idea was when i saw small boards tucked onto gates saying "Do not park in front of the gate".

The board and labour sponsoerd by a company that proudly displayed its name on the board. Fair enough. You take a social issue of warding of unwanted vehicles parking in front of building gates, bundle it with publicity to the sponsor and perch it free of cost on the front gates of buildings. all are happy (except few owners whose gates' paints were minorly damaged)

I wondered what would have gone thru the discussion when the creative team working on the campaign for Times had the brainstorming. 'OK so we are going to Tamilnadu.

What do tamils like? what kind of ppl are they? what do they do?..they like music, they like Rehman. So pull in Rehman. They draw kolams everyday, they wont be offended if we draw a kolam announcing times in front of their houses!..' and so on.

The creative team has done its work, will the product itself be as good in understanding us? It remains to be seen if Times of India can gather up the kind of loyalty that The Hindu has among Tamils.

Foodie alert

There probably isn’t anything I enjoy more than talking about food! Imagine my joy when I found this website that has the food joints, cafes, bars all listed down with address and phone numbers and a few reviews :)

burrp.com is a total foodie website, though very few Chennai joints have been reviewed, they do give you a fair idea of what to expect regarding cuisine and prices.

And of course, spreading the love, I am gonna do what I think I can do for the site- talking abt food. In fact, I have already written reviews for few food places in Chennai :)

It is classified on the basis of cities. The cities listed are Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkota, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune. I noticed that cities like Mumbai and Bangalore had more active people on the site.

I saw many reviews and also more joints listed there. In any case, the Chennai space is not bad at all!! I have not found any other website that’s exclusive for restaurants and cafes and burrp.com is gonna do just great for me :)

So next time you are looking for some place to have coffee/lunch/dinner have a peek at this site. And if you did visit any interesting restaurants, share your experience on the site by writing a review.

I just noticed the number of smileys i used in this post, my maximum so far in a single post i guess. Well, it happens. 'Food' is one of the only two topics that deserves so many smileys. the other one is, of course 'guys' ;)

Expert opinions. On resolutions and the city weather conditions

This morning when I went for a walk, I started sweating within about few paces. I loved that fact! My heavy duty (walking!) exercise was making me sweat!

But as I was listening to the news on my headset radio, I slowly I realized that the humidity today is 88% and that’s why I was sweating, not because of my "work out".

'Oh yeah', I thought, 'I live in Chennai'. And my beloved city is just turning to be its tropical worst; we are at the end of January and that’s just the end of the hot weather and the beginning of the hotter one. Come March and…no, I don’t want to talk about it, not yet atleast.

With a sudden rush of urgency, I realised that I had been planning a day trip to Pondy, then a trip to Thalavoi and more places that aren’t really at their best during the summer. Oh! I thought, I have to rush, those place will be unbearable by next month. I had started planning these trips ages ago.

I remember postponing these trips last year because of the summer and now here I am, again doing the same thing.

I should have taken a resolution this new year. Something like ‘I will do what I plan to do and will never postpone it’. But now January has almost ended and which idiot takes resolutions well into the year anyway??

Just 11 more months for the next new year, I will take my resolutions then. Hey, I am not postponing, its just that, this is just the logical thing to do, don’t you think? Resolutions aren’t exactly effective if they aren’t taken at ‘new year’. this aint an excuse, this is.. "Logic"! you get my point, right?? ;)

Lets have the missing checkered flag here

Have you been in formula one? or tried scuba diving? or bungee jumping? or chennai driving? gives you such a high! It excites you, pumps up the adrenaline, full throttle. you should try one of these, if you haven't, you are missing life!

No kidding..My boss (who was visiting Chennai, first time) took the team out for lunch and by chance happened to sit at the front of the car, near the driver. He is of the opinion that driving in Chennai takes you to the primitive laws of nature..survival of the fittest and the fastest and the most alert and the most alive! - all at a speed limit of 40 kilometres per hour, I must add.

Well, something to be proud of.
i know what its like without having to pay for a bunjee jump!

;)

Favourite Churches in Chennai

You can begin your Sunday with a visit to one of these beautiful churches. If not for praying, you can enjoy the peace and beauty. There is a very quiet, small church atop a hillock in St.Thomas mount. It’s only a short drive of about 30 minutes from the heart of the city. The hillock, on which the church stands, is inside the Officer’s academy premises between Pallavaram and Meenambakkam. This place is special to me, as students we have visited it many times. It is a place from where you can see most part of the city and also the landing and take-off of aeroplanes since the Airport is not far away.

Another church of beauty is the one in Santhome – Basilia. This is the place where the St.Thomas has been buried. Visitors are allowed to the tomb. It has got awesome stained glass painting works! This church is close to the Marina beach.

Inside the campus of the Loyola college/university is a beautiful church, which was built as a chapel for the students of Loyola. Visitors are allowed. Families in the nighbourhood flock to this place for the Sunday morning mass. Again special to me for personal reasons ;)

St.Mary’s Church in Besant Nagar. This church stands very close to the Elliots beach and is said to be the oldest church in Chennai, now renovated and extended. Believers and tourists flock to this place any day of the week.

St.George’s Cathedral church. Gives you the old world feeling; right in the middle of the busy city. I was a regular to this one till about few weeks ago. You would be surprised by its extensive cemetery. There is also a smaller chapel inside the same premise. It is a very peaceful place..

This can go on.. but these churches TOP my list :)
If you live in Chennai, try visiting few of them when time permits..

City with a heart

I am not even trying to count the number of NGOs (Non government organisations) in Chennai! They are just innumerous. Every noble cause has supporters here. Right from planting trees to saving street dogs; from rehabilitating rag pickers to feeding the homeless, Chennai is one city that is full of people with golden hearts.

These are just few of the sites worth sharing.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/04/stories/2007020415240300.htm
http://www.ivolunteer.org.in/news/VolOppsChennai.htm
http://www.chennaibest.com/discoverchennai/ngowatch/index.asp
http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/health-india/2003-March/000082.html

In no other city have I seen people so worried about their fellow humans and the environment that they live in.. So what makes them tick? Do you have an answer? a comment may be? jot it here, I would definitely like to know!

Cheers!