Star sighting at Chennai

Had gone to the basement parking area for a coffee break with colleagues, when I saw a
familiar-looking woman walking to the Suzuki Zen that was parked near where we were standing.

Did not really need to rack my memory to connect the face with the personality, even
though it was a long time since I had seen her. It was Rekha Menon, who at one time
used to host a very interesting quiz programme called FTQ (Family Tele Quiz) on a
Malayalam channel. For all I know, it could still be on TV today.

FTQ used to be pretty big with the Malayalam viewers who could call a phone number
and take the rapid-fire kind of quiz on questions involving general knowledge. I remember trying a lot to get across to that phone number, without any success though.

There used to be some kind of prizes for the winners. But more than the lure of the prize,
I think it was the talent of the hostess (Rekha) that made the show popular. People loved
the way Rekha hosted the program. She was lively and interesting and to top it all, the
highlight was her Trichur accent.

Trichur (pronounced as Trishur) is a district in Kerala, where the people speak Malayalam
in a special way. Actually they seem to sing the language rather than speak it, which has
always been amusing and entertaining for us Mallus from the rest of Kerala.

And ofcourse, she looks good and has a nice Mallu girl look to her, which could have also
worked in her favour. I even know a Tamil friend (I am sure he would read this as he
drops in occasionally to this blog) who used to be a regular viewer of the program
inspite of not understanding Malayalam. I am not sure, but her looks could have
been more of a factor in luring him to the program than interest in quizzing. :-)

Trichur has another claim to fame among Keralites. The girls from Trichur are supposed
to be the most beautiful among Keralite girls. This might be a very broad generalisation,
but somehow all the Trichur girls I know look great. So maybe there is some truth to it.

Anyway, I see her and without realising it, keep staring at her. She notices this
continous stare which makes me turn my gaze away. She might have mentally
made a note, "Another Mallu in Chennai who happens to have seen my program".

And you know what, she looks much better than she actually looks on TV. Infact, she
looked really good in person. Googled for an image of hers to put here and this is what
I came up with. However, this picture does not really do justice to her looks.


Picture courtesy : www.esquareworld.com

So, what was she doing in a complex housing IT companies?

A friend tells me that apart from hosting programmes on TV, she also works for an IT
company at Trivandrum (Kerala), which happens to have a development centre in our
building. So, most probably an official visit to Chennai.

Anyway wish her all success and luck and may her program be more popular with viewers.