I'm back in Chennai, namma good 'ol Chennai. I realise that, though both Mumbai and Delhi are hot, the stifling humidity here kinda makes things unbearable. Anyway, I'd rather be here than anywhere else.

As usual, a couple of pics coming right up, taken during sightseeing trips in Mumbai and Delhi. Just dont ask when! He He!

3 cities in a week's time. So much of diversity. In Mumbai, its the wide, almost un-bridgeable chasm between the rich and poor; in Goa, its the rustic beauty and the serenity of the place; in Delhi, its the wide open spaces when one travels from South Delhi all the way to Parliament House and beyond.

But the best thing that happened, as far as I'm concerned, was spotting an offer by a pavement bookseller in Vasant Vihar, Delhi - Rs 25/- per book. After selecting 4 books, the guy was good
enough to tell me to take another book, as a bonus! Its nice to be a nice guy, eh?

Buying Schindlers Ark by Thomas Keneally for Rs 20/- was more than anything one could ask for!

Life is GOOD !!

I can really be like a zombie, very early in the day.

Not a big help are the check in facilities of India's fav airline. Nothing rude to jolt you with. Just professional and with almost clinical efficiency, they 'jet' me on my way to the boarding gate. I plonk myself into a chair and promptly fall asleep!! Thankfully, the boarding call, booming louder than my snoring, awakens me.

Ok, I was just kidding!!

But they are good, really good. Once inside, the formalities go by in a blur ... and you're off, winging away, slightly north-west and just under Mach 1 speed.

A couple of minutes later, when I'm nose-deep into the newspapers, they bring on some refreshments. Fortified, I revel reading Muralidharan's and Yuvan Shankar Raja's wedding/reception reporting.

Breakfast is then served. Not too heavy, not too light, its just right! Gone are the plastic spoons, knives and forks - stainless steel makes a re-entry! The stewardess wishes you a good breakfast calling you by name before handing over your plate! I'm impressed. Going by my co-passengers smiles, I can tell they are too! Later, I ask her how she's memorised each passengers' name, in double quick time. Her name is Rasika, she's dowright modest and smilingly attributes it to training. Perhaps. But its reason enough for me to be their biggest fan! It's apparent this airline believes in the 'wow' factor, methinks.

Mumbai elicits a different reaction! The airport seems jazzed up, sports steel and chrome, floors all shiny and smooth, the service signs clear & readable & the staff providers eager to help. I'm all wide-eyed, eager as a beaver, soaking in these changes, since my last visit, 3-4 years back.

One step outside and everything is as usual. The filth and the garbage. The beggars, paperwallahs and the flower-sellers at traffic junctions. All the Premier Padminis in the world being used as Taxis. The furious ebb and flow of people, people, people. The intensity and focus of office-goers intent on getting to their destination. The monotonous grey facades of buildings. Upturned roads. Non-existent sidewalks. 

Frenetic and chaotic is the way this city moves.

You like it,eh? Mumbai will give you a bear hug and envelop you in a warm embrace. Dont like it? If you're lucky, you'll get to hear 4 words.

Fare thee well, stranger!
:)

Oy! If you believe that you'll believe anything.

Can't wait to see Mumbai. After a long time.

Can't wait to see Goa.....a first time there.

Ahhhh! Sundays are so magnificent. The sheer pleasure of waking up late, having coffee in bed, a leisurely breakfast, coffee again and moving on to the raison d'etre of Sundays. The Hindu and  Sunday Express. After devouring them whole - column & page - I cannot but feel grateful that, for less than 10 bucks, I've been informed, educated, prodded, provoked and awareness raised.

Anyway, this particular Sunday has all the hallmarks a memorable one. It's given me an oppurtunity to go back and relive my past.

Thanks to Gowri. And her post. 2-3 days back, I stumbled upon it and then, discovered this gem of a website www.kannadaaudio.com. Since then, I've been stealing a few moments often while at work listening to some of those songs. Going the whole hog today, I cannot help but be transported to an era of the late 70's & early 80's. At that time, I spent lots of time with my grandparents, living, smack in the middle of an Anglo-Indian section of Bangalore - Charles Campbell Road. At that time - one could claim - and with little argument -  Bangalore was indeed a clean, green and gracious city. It was a period when music meant melody and they wafted out from an ordinary transistors and captivated you, by their sheer charm and easy-on-the-ear tunes/lyrics. My memories recall a large family indulging in chitter chatter, pitching in to help concoct simple akki rotis/chappatis/biryani/dosai/idlis etc in the kitchen while the ubiquitous  radio belted out those supremely hummable songs. Can I be faulted today if it I'm seized with a terrible, heartbreaking angst? All those memories of happy, wanton, carefree, halycon moments of sheer innocence those days collide with being a part of today's rat race, the 24hr effort to beat time at its game and the emptiness of being a nuclear (or, unclear?) family. Will those carefree times ever come back? Perhaps, only when the final replay comes on.

Noorondu Nenapu
Yede Aaladindha
Hallagi banthu
ananda dindha
Sindhoora bindu......

In an apt comment, Gowri further notes "The 70s and 80s period was the golden era for the Kannada film Industry. Great directors like Puttanna Kanagal, actors like Dr.Raj, Vishnuvardhan, Ananth Nag, Shankar Nag...,soulful music and meaningful lyrics came together to give us wonderful movies. They died a slow and silent death with the demise of stalwarts like Puttanna and Shankar Nag. Looking forward to a time when that glory will return; I hope not in vain."

The contributions of music directors like Hamsalekha (also a lyricist) Ranga Rao as well as singers like SPB, LR Eshwari, S S Janaki, Yesudas who lent their melodious voices to songs that will stay in the hearts and minds of people - wherever we are - must also be mentioned.

As an aside, perhaps my angst springs from seeing daily and with unfailing regularity - the lack of tolerance & acceptance - these days and how quickly we all succumb to jingoism and chauvinism. Instead of pride at being INDIAN and embracing, wholeheartedly, our uniqueness, we find prejudices overtaking us - at light speed - when we meet people other than - so called - our own. If we ignore these artifical differences, perhaps all of us can look forward to living in harmony & peace, every day, instead of craving for times that have long passed.

To help, we can refer to these 4 lines in a song - Keechekiliye - from the film Mugavari:

Isai-odu vandhom
Isai-odu vazhvom
Isai-odu pov-vom
Isaiyavom

Is it possible?

:)

Personally, I think Narenda Modi is an insult to the nation. The gujarat riots are a blot on our nation's history, one that almost tore asunder what is unique to our nation - a secular fabric. Nobody believes that he was not the perpetrator of the same.

With the denial of the visa to him by the US Govt., he thinks the hullabullo the issue has created makes him a martyr, the whole nation must condemn this move, its an insult etc.

Come now, Mr. Modi. Does you think the US govt. is stupid?

This QED (!) phase seems to be catching on.

Once again, sports, rather a sport, proves what politicians & diplomacy seem incapable of. Bridging the great divide between 2 'fledgling' nations. Well, in a small way.

What am I talking about? General Pervez is visiting India to watch India and Pakistan battle it out at Delhi, April 17. Hopefully he'll be at the stadium in casuals, leaving his battle fatigues at the hotel. Aren't we all tired of seeing him in that crisp, starched uniform? I am, for sure! His family are already here.

This is great news and gives me hope that our 2 nations - fractured seemingly at the right hand - can still come together and realise that peace between its people can be the only way forward. 

Yet somehow, one half of me is also wary. Behind the spit and polish of the general's facade seems to lurk a mind that can be calculating, cunning and capable of manipulating issues to score brownie points and make it a one-point agenda - Kashmir. 

Then there's the other issue - security. One lapse around him and some intent, crazy bandha from a now benched 'party' could have us all staring at the barrel of a gun. Even an episode like digging up Ferozeshah Kotla pitch can be a major embarassment!

Anyway, perhaps I'm just dreaming all this up....crazed as I am, trying to finish my deadlines.

For all we know, the general is just gonna enjoy staring at a fine, long leg under cover, at slightly mid-off position!

You get the point?

:)

There is so much to write about on one aspect that's the USP to Chettinadu heritage & hospitality. I mean, apart from their cuisine.

Their mansions - those magnificent buildings of yore!

While work prevents me from spending time working(!) on the text, here's a preview of what's coming ahead:

Its business as usual in Chennai's Burma Bazaar. You know which resurgent business I'm talking about, right? Pirated DVD's, particularly, English films!

Of course, Tamil DVD's / VCD's have been yanked off the shelves. Voluntarily, that is. Who wants to go be detained behind bars without trial & legal recourse? And so, to my untrained eye, this is what appears to be a compromise between the Burma Bazaar traders and the film industry - no selling Tamil films, or else!

Since I regularly buy the english ones - particularly, animated films - I couldn't care less. Though, of late, what with Kollywood tasting success with several films, I'd love to build up a good collection. But if the Tamil film industry do not want to release their films in DVD / VCD format simultaneously through legal channls, why should I care? They are only forsaking making additional money without much effort and marketing. Are people blind or what, to ground realities? Meaning, consumer demand?

I've harped on this earlier and I will quote Kamalahaasan again "The Tamil film industry has an inward grown *****. It keeps screwing itself."  Wah, bhai, wah..true words were never more harshly spoken. And this from - as he called himself - an illiterate who's been given a doctorate! To see how the Hindi film industry has taken to introducing their films on DVD's, just take a look at Cinema Paradiso or at Music World. Its astounding - the range of Hindi films by distributors such as Eros, Shemaroo etc.

Anyway.

At least film companies in China have begun to see the writing on the wall. He He! As Confucius said (Are you sure....Ed?) " If you can't beat them, might as well shove the bamboo pole up their......" Ok, serious now.

Taking its battle against rampant piracy of films and music to the front lines, Warner Home Video said it will sell cut-rate DVDs in China in a bid to compete on the counterfeiters' home turf.

Basic DVDs, to be available shortly after a film's theatrical release, will sell in China for as little as 22 yuan ($2.65) That's still more than the pirated versions readily available in China for 8 yuan ($1).

Warner's basic versions will not carry any DVD extras such as directors' interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, the company said. But versions with more features will be available a bit later for 28 yuan ($3.38).

According to the industry, theft in China of copyrights and patents cost Western companies an estimated $16 billion in lost sales each year. Despite sporadic arrests, counterfeit books, DVDs and music are easily available on almost every city street and even in shops.

In India, its still a different scenario. While DVD players are being bought left, right and centre these days at rock bottom prices, them film companies are still pricing VCD's at 199/- upwards! Guys, why don't you grow up and see the red ink in your sales ledgers? I mean, haven't you guys heard about selling in volumes?

All this leads to just one conclusion The recent arrests be damned, I foresee more and more people continuing to buy thiruttu DVD's and VCD's, wherever they can get them. If not in Chennai, because to yesterday's arrest, then it will be from Nagapattinam, Coimbatore or Karaikal or Trichy et al.

Else, from Bangalore where thiruttu DVD's/ VCD's/ MP3's et al is free trade! 

:) 

As they say - One swallow does not make a summer! And so, my 2 days dining in Karaikudi cannot be taken as the final word on the cuisine over there. (Boy, does this sound like a disclaimer or what? Ed!)

Suffice to say that people of Chettinadu are a very gracious and hospitable lot. Read on and you'll discover why.

Madurai Meenakshi is a vegetarian restaurant within Hotel Udhayam, Karaikdudi. The service is excellent and so is the variety available at breakfast. 2 days of breakfasting here left me quite a satiated fellow. In Chennai, you'll get a spoonful of chutney's with your idli and dosa. Over here in Karaikudi, you can have all the chutneys that you want and more. Not to mention, podi, too! 

 

Right! If they can be so generous, I can be equally 'accommodating' eh? *Burp* !!! :)

 

Hmmmph! Before you guys guffaw, please note that I follow that age old dictum - Have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and have dinner like a pauper!

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you choose to see it - for 2 days in a row - I was feted at lunch-time too like a king. Day 1, it was at the Bangala (Tamil translation for that english word - Bungalow) now a family run and heritage hotel,  a little away from the town centre. The magic starts the moment you are invited to the dining table. The pristinely set table and beauty of a clean, green and wide plantain leaf can take your breath away. Food is then piled on! The chef's hover around you looking for cues as to whether the dishes find your liking, whether the spices & herbs are just right and the 5 odd assistants sorround you to serve whatever it is you feel like having once, twice, thrice and boyyyyyyy, all this can be very embarrassing for simple folk like me. ;)

 

More photos of the Bangala below. Mrs. Meenakshi Meyyappan runs the show and I'm glad I took the initiative to say Hi to her at the seminar venue. A very elegant and graceful lady, nay, "aachi" I must say they don't make many people like her anymore.

Day 2, I had lunch at more humble surroundings. Off Sekkalai main road in Karaikudi is Alazhgu mess. Muthu Saame is its proprietor. Welcoming me happily as I walk in & settle down, he says

 

he's  happy to see an out-of-towner like me. When I ask him how he knew, he tells me, dead-pan, that his computer told him so! Effusive and talkative, he attends to every customer with warmth & an amiable camaraderie, thats truly amazing. Refusing to take money from a poor & elderly couple, he tells them money can wait....food can't! Next, he chides another guy for not rolling up his sleeves while eating. He pours rasam like there's no tomorrow onto my plate and when it threatens to run over, he quickly tears up another leaf and places the spine delicately preventing a spill!! I can only say my mouth fell open seeing his inventiveness. Another guy who refused to take a second helping got a mouthful! Later, for all the food that I gorged on, I found my bill less than 1/10th that of the Bangala! Yet, inspite of the polar opposites in costs, both the places made a visitor feel important without sacrificing on quality and quantity. Truly, there is a wealth of meaning in the saying "Athithi Devo Bhava".

I'm well and truly sold on Chettinadu and plan to visit Karaikudi again with my family!

:)

PS: To reduce loading time on the pics, I've reduced their size. Also, I've checked the options available to remove pictures from appearing, while commenting and.....I couldn't find any!! However, I'm open to being corrected and will appreciate your help on this matter. Thanks!