I just realised that I've completed one year of blogging. Not bad, eh? Thanks to this activity, I feel I have so many friends now. My blogroll keeps on growing.

Here's my first entry (reproduced below); co-incidentally, my latest post also talks about cleanliness and the national need to inculcate it amongst many of our less fortunate brethren.

On a sad note, the guy who introduced and encouraged me to blogging - Kribs - is now shutting down his blog.

Heartfelt thanks to him and all you guys / gals (one amazingly prolific one, in particular) for your  encouragement, comments and point of view(s).

I owe you all for this!

:)

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Spit(e) & Polish??

I'm new to Chennai and been here for about a year - more or less!!

Born and brought up in Bangalore, job demands made me shift base to Chennai. Good things have happened ever since.....personally and professionally! To that extent, I will always be glad to be here in Chennai [ am getting used to the heat, sweat and god-promise...I don't waste water ;-)  ]

But the one thing that strikes me (actually, it hasn't - thank god!) is that lots of people here do the thing thats totally gross - spitting.

From what little I have seen, many areas in this city could do with a little polish but could all-those-who indulge-in-it please avoid the spit?

It is 'spiteful' to the rest of people who are involved in making and keeping this city clean.

:)

PS : To all the guys who run & toil for Onyx a.k.a CES ( Chennai Enviromental Services ) hats off to you. May your arms never tire!!!!

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Its hard to miss the recent ad blitzkrieg from the Department of Tourism titled 'Athithi Devo Bhava', in almost every newspaper in India. I'm sure many of you would have seen it by now.

It seeks to do many things. Mainly, educate many of our citizens to make sure that we treat our guests from abroad feel welcome.

Its a timely move, this campaign, and very welcome. A round of applause to Mrs. Renuka Chowdhury!

But I have just one issue. If we all are to submit to godliness, shouldn't there be some cleanliness too?

When will the government start a alternative campaign that will make sure many of our citizens keep this hallowed 5000 yr. old precint clean?

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: