From an ugly duckling to an almost graceful swan - that's the transformation of Ulsoor Lake. All that money - how much was it? About 450 lacs? - seems to be well spent! If it looks this neat in summer, I can imagine the lake with the tank full up, during the monsoon!

Real estate development is big business in Bangalore. Every time I'm there, some old building has vanished and another, invariably with chrome and glass, has taken its place! This is in Kamaraj Road, adjoining Commercial street.

Chrome and glass allright, with colourful - should I say flowerful - facade. No doubt, its meant to attract the fairer sex! Eva is the building name or is it the name of the designer store? No idea, for now.

This showroom, on 100 ft Road, Indiranagar, once housed a STD booth, a beauty parlour and a shop frying/selling potato chips. I used to make calls from there..it was just another faceless single storied building! In its place, seemingly overnight, is this Reebok showroom!!!! Its difficult even for me, without sputtering, to comprehend these sudden and awesome changes in the landscape that was Bangalore. I can only imagine for old-timers!


Amidst all these changes are old-world buildings that seem totally  incongruous! For God's sake and mine, I hope these are allowed to stay. L & G, the Mythic soceity building, on Nruputhunga Road.

Nope, I did not have the time to have lunch here but what a cute name for me, er, the restaurant??

I'm sure this is unintended but the photo arrangement makes it almost appear as if Kennedy is garlanded by shoes and leather paraphernalia. However, the fact is that in many shops in old Bangalore, there are 3 photos that are guaranteed present - Gandhiji, Nehru and Kennedy! Somebody tell me why he's so popular with old timers. Perhaps his sundry romances captured the feverish imagination of our guys back then?

A nice thing on the part of Bangalore City Corporation  to help redesign and get private sponsorship -
Cobbler Kiosks!

2 things that I could eat any/every day and in any quantity - corn ( boiled or charcoal-roasted ) and groundnuts. I freaked at this shop in Food World complex, MG Road, that sells corn - boiled, of course - in many different combinations using butter, chaat masala, coriander, chilli powder, other pulses etc. God, I could travel to Bangalore again to have just corn! LOL!

Ok, drum roll for the Superstar! Here's a pic of a newspaper report in Kannada about Superstar. Its says " Rajni style-a bere " meaning "Rajni has his own unique style! " Hmmmph, as if his fans don't know!

Here's a pic of the posters splashed at the entrance to Naga Theatre where Chandramukhi is running, houseful, since its opening. The collage features a pic of the Superstar from each of his earlier movies. Isn't this nice? I mean, how did they manage to get it all? High-tech are Superstar's fans in Bangalore!


;)

From intending to having a cup of coffee with 2 fellow bloggers - Prabhu and Sowmya - it snowballed into something like a mini-bloggers meet of sorts! A couple of requests over the phone and email and voila....lots were done!

I must say a big sorry to Krishna Kumar for screwing up in not calling him well in time for the meet.

"See you next time, guys" to Karthik L.G, Mohan, Van, Karpagam, Sowmya and Anita.

Best of all, a big thanks:

To Prabhu -  I won't forget the awesome pleasure we shared watching the Ferrari model rip on the Forum parking lot tarmac!

To Madhu - certainly envy  your courage to strike it out on your own in an area that appeals to me tremendously - "cooking" !

To Suman - what an astounding moment it was for me to know that we share the same reason for blogging! Even as it appears, oh-so-far-fetched!!

To Prabha - for helping get Deepak over to the meet and for your shy and warm smile(s)!

To Ram - for soldiering on with worthy cause(s) like helping children-in-difficult-circumstances, getting corporates to accept & add to their social responsibilities, using sport for development and peace etc!  More power to you, good sir!

To Deepak - for your company & provoking debate with a couple of issues.

To Lalith - for your presence and all the hearty laughs that Madhu & Suman generated using your comments/observations ( "patriotic c......" / 'rear ....' etc )

Here are the related snaps:

Its an experience that is best seen to be believed!! Steering, nay, racing an amazingly fast model Ferrari with digital precision and breathtaking speed! I don't think Prabhu would have slept that night reliving that experience, time and over again!

Coffee Art!

I think this mosaic best explains what a blog meet is all about - having a cup of coffee, spending some time with friends - new and old! What's psychology got to do with it?

:)

• There are about 9 million blogs out that there in blogosphere....i.e 90 lac blogs!
• 40,000 new ones everyday
• 27% of Internet users in America actually spend their online, internet surfing time reading blogs!

It would be interesting to know an India perspective to the above statistics! That is, how many people from India ( or, Indian origin ) are onto blogging, how many are coming up every day, wherefrom, age-groups, time being spent blogging and inter alia, how much of bloghopping happens really!

More insightful would be to really know how we fare with the rest of the bloggers out there. As with everything in life where higher benchmarks are aimed at, shouldn't there be an index to the quality of blogging?? By that I don't just mean getting them damn types, er, typos out. I mean, sheer q-u-a-l-i-t-y!! 

I say this because our voting for blogger popularity seems to be more for our personal rapport with the person & our comfort levels with his/her blog rather than - and I say this for arguments sake - for the factors mentioned above : honesty, insight, sheer quality of writing and in my opinion its relevance/ topicality, creativity, wit - subtle or otherwise, intelligence and other qualitative factors.

Somebody tell me this is a stupid argument and goes against the basic tenet of blogging - freedom!!!

I'm all yours....er, e-a-r-s!!!!

Sigh! Am slowly realising the impermanence of all things in life (Gah! Another angsty post from you,eh? Ed!)

Owning a 29" TV is the ultimate I felt and looked forward to hours and hours of entertainment. What with the kids holidays starting and their monopoly with the cartoon channels, I just don't get my share of the idiot box.

I thought it great shakes to upgrade to the latest DVD player. A few days into it, the year-end came about and what with its related work, I hardly get time to watch films or am just too pooped at the end of these dog-days of summer!

Cut to listening to music. ARR is the best...one can't stop listening to him, i thought. A week of listening to his numbers and I can't help but switch to Illayaraja, for his melodies. I don't have to tell you what I feel about the dabbankuthu songs from the other so called "music-directors!" (YSR excluded, please!)

I've bean....er, been quaffing coffee since ages! 3 days back, my doc tells me to cut back on them as a possible remedy for sleeplessness & anxiety!

A week of freedom, i thought, getting to ride the bike to office daily! Bad decision! Aack!!! I'm grateful I haven't choked on the pollution riding in the Teynampet-Pondy Bazaar-TNagar-Duraiswamy Road subway area! I can't wait to go back to them MTC buses (its anybody's guess when these long awaited new stands - you recall my rants on them earlier, dont you - will come about!)

Blame it on circumstances, blame it on my fickle nature, blame it on change. Whatever.

Am I the only guy around who watches wistfully, as life changes with the waxing/waning of the moon?

Go ahead, share your thoughts, make my day. A sunny one, please!

:)

Urgent Attn : All Chennaites.

There is a crazy book sale going on at the CP Art Gallery, Teynampet ( you know, the building diagonally opposite to KamalHaasan's office!!)

I say crazy coz' the books - 99% - are imported, almost new, very cheap ( Rs 25 onwards ) and being bought by the dozens!!! There's bound to be a stampede, for sure, before they wind up the sale, on Wednesday! Either that, or, nothing is going to be available tomorrow!

I was lucky to get my hands on - almost mint condition - 2 paperbacks by Thomas Harris - Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal! Each costed me just 50/-.

The Random House Thesaurus, mint-condition, was 50/-. The Scarlatti Inheritance by Robert Ludlum dented a small hole in my pocket @ Rs 25/-. :)

New Books for tiny tots are available at 10/-

You get the book, er, picture, right? Now, hurry! 

:)

PS: You can thank me later! A biryani is ok with me!

I wonder if kids in India are / will ever get to be smart as this:

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was  dressed, "Dad". With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing to you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I've been finding real passion with Joan and she is so
nice-even with all her piercing, tattoos, and her tight motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion dad, she's pregnant and Joan said that we will be very happy. Even though you won't care for her as she is so much older than I, she already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. She wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. Joan
taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us and trading it with her friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Joan can get better; she sure deserves it! Don't worry Dad, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your loving son,

John

PS: Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk center drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home.

Thanks to Sujit, my ex-colleague, friend and brother, for this forward!!!  The subject of his email read
" Beware of kids today...." :)

Who is a fan?

Is he one who merely apes his hero & his mannerisms, tries to sport  his looks, attempts to copy his sartorial sense of dressing, mouths his dialoges once in a while, flirts with girls like the way his hero does, garlands him on his birthday, attends his convocations, whistles during first day, first show et al?

Or, like me, is he one who admires a star for a) acknowledging hard work & seeing his slow, steady & perseverent climb to the top, b) revealing to us his middle class moorings unashamedly c) laying bare his glamour image and showing the person behind the star, his thoughts, ideals d) recreating days gone by, travelling in a bus (12B, no less) e) identifying with everyday, ordinary folks/heroes????

Is it any wonder that when it comes to being smitten with Kollywood stars, me and my 4 yr old daughter will - unabashedly - choose Surya any day?? He was so 'dash'ing - what with his commuting and all -  yesterday on Sun TV, the 5 pm show!

:)

PS: I'm considered oh, so auspicious!

A few years ago - residing in Bangalore - I would receive calls from relatives ( many in TN ) on the special day that is today and who, staying true to our roots, would wish me "Puthandu Vazhthegal".

For a Tamilian in cosmopolitan Bangalore who a) is used to speaking, if not listening to different languages day in and day out and b) had, resultantly, almost lost his cultural moorings, it always sounded strange in my ears, that classical greeting!

Approaching my third year here in Chennai and being more aware of our rich culture - including learning to read & write Tamil!!! - & heritage and the necessity to know/understand  more of it (pending travels to Madurai, Tanjore, Kanyakumari etc) it is with pride that I can confidently say  "Tamizh Puthandu Nalvaazhthukkal" today to all & the more "iniya", the better! (Should this come across as excessive chauvinistic pride, please excuse....you should see what I shall drum up on August 15th!!) :)

One lovely development already! Waking up late and groggily reaching for the paper, I sat bolt upright, having been socked right between the eyes! My paper - The Hindu - has undergone a complete, comprehensive makeover and wow, what a day to bring it into effect!!! Reading, nay, devouring the behind the-scenes action that went into this metamorphosis, I cannot but agree with the view of its re-designer that ".....the good newspapers are in a constant state of evolutionary change." The Deccan Herald too was recently re-designed and reduced its size in keeping with this view "...the future belongs to smaller newspapers, easier to carry, more compact." Strangely, this comprehensive change has not been carried over to its online edition! Perhaps I can request our "glam celeb journalist", co-blogger and importantly, sistah!, who also reported on the occasion, for her thoughts.

Cheeeers & Ciao!  

:)

PS: Uma, this is for you!