Though I dont watch cricket (inspite of having played lots of it during my school-days), today morning I really wanted to know who aced the finals of the IPL 20/20 finals. As I pick up a copy of the DeccanChronicle at the corner shop, the first think I look for is the IPL results. And Chennai Super Kings trounced Mumbai Indians to bring home the cup.
My curiosity was not due to it being the home-team. The main reason was the conversation I had one morning a few days ago. It was around 8AM when I am getting ready to leave for work and the door-bell rings. I hate being interrupted in the mornings and think to myself that it must be the apartment watchman, dropping in as usual for some trivial reason or the other.
Open the door to see the guy from the nearby shop with the refill can of drinking water. I am glad he came before I left for work, because I have run out of water. After he collects the empty can and cash from me, just before leaving, he turns around and says, "It was a superb match yesterday, wasn't it sir ?"
Given that the only game about which Indians are crazy, is cricket, I know that he must be referring to some IPL match. But, what do I reply ? I dont even know who played whom or who won. Not wanting to sound knowing and end up making a gaffe, I admit defeat, "Who played whom and who won?"
"Sir, you did not watch yesterday's semi-final ? Chennai trounced the DeccanChargers to make it to the final."
"Oh, OK. Well, I don't follow cricket much". // He looks at me as if I were an alien. :-)
Just to break the awkward silence, I ask him, "So who do we play in the IPL finals ?"
"The Mumbai Indians".
"And how do you think we would do against them, given that they are in great form ? I was glad I remembered atleast this bit from a conversation my colleagues were having on IPL matches.
"Ha, that should be a walk in the park. We will win the finals".
As he walks away, I am wondering how confident he is about his home-team winning. More importantly, how much pride he takes about the team and how he identifies with the team. And given that Chennai did trounce Mumbai, he was bang on target too.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Multiplying and then vanishing - hope the predators did not make it
Yesterday night, before hitting the bed, I have a look at the pigeon maternity ward outside my bedroom-window on the aircon top. I am surprised to see 2 eggs now. Ha, where did this other one come from suddenly ?
But no sign at all of the parents, which is surprising given that it is close to midnight.
Anyway, more surprises await me in the morning when I check out the nest. There are no eggs there !!! Dont know what transpired during the night. Did the birds move to another place with their eggs, if it is possible for them to do it ? Or did the predators finally make it, seeing no parents around ?
I was looking forward to seeing the tiny ones hatch, grow up and then fly away. But looks like I am not lucky enough.
But no sign at all of the parents, which is surprising given that it is close to midnight.
Anyway, more surprises await me in the morning when I check out the nest. There are no eggs there !!! Dont know what transpired during the night. Did the birds move to another place with their eggs, if it is possible for them to do it ? Or did the predators finally make it, seeing no parents around ?
I was looking forward to seeing the tiny ones hatch, grow up and then fly away. But looks like I am not lucky enough.
Friday, April 23, 2010
No aircon even in peak summer. Not for the Earth, but for a Mom-to-be.
After being surprisingly pleasant in Jan & Feb (for normal Chennai weather ie.), March saw Chennai getting back to how it is for most of the year - like the inside of an oven. Anyway, having spent more than 20 summers here, I should be now used to it. But each time, it feels like the first time - the searing heat beating down on you, eyes unable to be kept open while outside, the fatigue etc. The only saving grace being the round-the-clock Chennai sea breeze - what would we do without it ?
Sometime in April, I switched from ceiling fan to the air-conditioner and this will continue atleast till end-May. However, for the last few days, I had to switch back to the ceiling fan. Reason being a Mother-to-be who thought that my aircon-top is the best maternity ward in the whole of Chennai.
Couple of days ago, when I peeped out of my bedroom window, I see a couple of pigeons (Dad & Mom ?) and along with them a shiny white egg. Since my switching on the aircon might scare
them away & thus not let the hatching process to happen, I decided to sacrifice my comfort.
Pic : Mom looking warily at me, while Daddy flew off. Had to take the snap from behind the window netting to avoid scaring her away.
Pic : No proper nest. Just some twigs and hay scattered around.
Also, apart from hatching not happening, switching the aircon on would also mean the parent birds flying off & predators moving in for the kill. After all, one bird's egg could be another bird's breakfast. Check out the predators (circled in the snap below) waiting for a chance to have a go at the egg.
With my wife and kid coming down to Madras this Sunday for a week, I am not sure how long I will be able to do without the aircon. My wife does not really mind, but Aman likes the aircon comfort. Anyway, let me cross that bridge when I come to it.
Sometime in April, I switched from ceiling fan to the air-conditioner and this will continue atleast till end-May. However, for the last few days, I had to switch back to the ceiling fan. Reason being a Mother-to-be who thought that my aircon-top is the best maternity ward in the whole of Chennai.
Couple of days ago, when I peeped out of my bedroom window, I see a couple of pigeons (Dad & Mom ?) and along with them a shiny white egg. Since my switching on the aircon might scare
them away & thus not let the hatching process to happen, I decided to sacrifice my comfort.
Pic : Mom looking warily at me, while Daddy flew off. Had to take the snap from behind the window netting to avoid scaring her away.
Pic : No proper nest. Just some twigs and hay scattered around.
Also, apart from hatching not happening, switching the aircon on would also mean the parent birds flying off & predators moving in for the kill. After all, one bird's egg could be another bird's breakfast. Check out the predators (circled in the snap below) waiting for a chance to have a go at the egg.
With my wife and kid coming down to Madras this Sunday for a week, I am not sure how long I will be able to do without the aircon. My wife does not really mind, but Aman likes the aircon comfort. Anyway, let me cross that bridge when I come to it.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
It's always greener on the other side...
I am on the train to Chennai last Monday after spending 4-days at home for Good Friday and Easter. Actually it was supposed to be working from home on Monday, but nature decided otherwise and I had to apply for leave, since there was no power in the area due to many trees falling over power lines due to surprise heavy winds + rains. More on that in another blog-post.
After travelling weekly on trains for 2 years or more, I am sick of the commotion & crowd that is typical of the Sleeper class (cattle-class as Shashi Tharoor would put it), with just about anyone boarding these reserved coaches even though their ticket does not entitle them to. So, in the interest of some peace of mind, I have moved to the 3rd AC coaches - costs 2.5 times more, but worth it.
When I board the train, of the 8 berths in my coupe, only 4 are occupied, of which one is a girl travelling alone and the other 3 are a group travelling together, comprising a Mom & son + a female acquaintance of theirs. It's a TamBram group and I reckon they are either returning after a vacation in Kerala or after attending a wedding or some such function. Even without them speaking, it is easy to place them as TamBrahms. Especially the kid, who must be in his early teens and would fit the description that Chetan Bhagat gives of his BIL in the novel "2 States - the story of my marriage".
They are loaded with food (Tamarind rice, pickle, papad etc and ofcourse the inevitable curd-rice) and soon settle down to finish dinner. Like any normal Mom, this one too is making sure her son eats enough and more and the kid is actually pretty obliging. While the food is not really interesting to me (I have dinner packed by my wife - rice, coconut chutney, beef-fry and fish-fry), I cannot help overhearing their conversation.
In between mouthfuls of tamarind-rice, the Mom goes, "I really liked this place. Such a lot of rains. And coconuts are in abundance too."
"And lots of mangoes too", chimes the kid in between.
"Here, have some more puliyodharai (tamarind-rice)", says Mom as she places another helping on his plate.
"And almost nil pollution too, did you notice ?", says the other lady in the group.
"Oh yes, how could I forget that. You know, I said no to moving to Bangalore inspite of the climate there being great. But am having 2nd thoughts about moving to Kerala", says the Mom.
"You sure about that ? You mean you would like to settle in Kerala ?", asks the lady.
"Oh yes, without a doubt. If I had a house here, I would definitely move here".
Ofcourse, I can see that during their short-stay in Kerala, they just about had time to see the good part. Being summer, mangoes & jack-fruits are in abundance. And yes, we get lots of rains and pollution is also much lesser than Chennai and other metros. But there is yet another side to the place, which would be seen only if you are staying here for long and it might make the lady rethink her plans of settling down here.
Let's start with something that any Chennai-ite would take for granted - electricity. We are used to having power 24/365, with maybe a brief outage once in a blue-moon, which is also attended to immediately. Contrast this with the daily scheduled and unscheduled outages in Kerala lasting an hour or more daily. Not fun, eh ? Especially in summer when you have to battle both the heat and mosquitoes.
Coming to the other cool factor for the lady - rains - I too am a big fan of the rains, but as a visitor to Kerala, it is fun to enjoy the rains. But for a normal resident, this can be a real pain as they scramble about their daily routine - getting to work / school etc. The rains in Chennai will be light and maybe last a few minutes usually. But in Kerala, if it rains, it is a real downpour and can last for a long time. Getting to office/school drenched to the skin is not really a good start to the day.
And finally coming to her "If I had a home here..." part, that is a pretty big "if" as far as Kerala is concerned. It's a small state and land is limited, while population density is high and purchasing power is huge with Gulf money coming in like there is no end. Property price keeps increasing by the day and there is only so much of land on sale.
As usual, this is a case of the grass being greener on the other side. Am sure that the lady would rethink her plans of settling down in Kerala, if she knew these facts about how life is in Kerala. I am not even getting into the sudden strikes / hartals called by even fringe unknown political parties, which affect normal life.
Lady, I guess you are way better off in Chennai. If at all when the urge hits you, just catch the train to Kerala and spend a few days here and you should be OK.
After travelling weekly on trains for 2 years or more, I am sick of the commotion & crowd that is typical of the Sleeper class (cattle-class as Shashi Tharoor would put it), with just about anyone boarding these reserved coaches even though their ticket does not entitle them to. So, in the interest of some peace of mind, I have moved to the 3rd AC coaches - costs 2.5 times more, but worth it.
When I board the train, of the 8 berths in my coupe, only 4 are occupied, of which one is a girl travelling alone and the other 3 are a group travelling together, comprising a Mom & son + a female acquaintance of theirs. It's a TamBram group and I reckon they are either returning after a vacation in Kerala or after attending a wedding or some such function. Even without them speaking, it is easy to place them as TamBrahms. Especially the kid, who must be in his early teens and would fit the description that Chetan Bhagat gives of his BIL in the novel "2 States - the story of my marriage".
They are loaded with food (Tamarind rice, pickle, papad etc and ofcourse the inevitable curd-rice) and soon settle down to finish dinner. Like any normal Mom, this one too is making sure her son eats enough and more and the kid is actually pretty obliging. While the food is not really interesting to me (I have dinner packed by my wife - rice, coconut chutney, beef-fry and fish-fry), I cannot help overhearing their conversation.
In between mouthfuls of tamarind-rice, the Mom goes, "I really liked this place. Such a lot of rains. And coconuts are in abundance too."
"And lots of mangoes too", chimes the kid in between.
"Here, have some more puliyodharai (tamarind-rice)", says Mom as she places another helping on his plate.
"And almost nil pollution too, did you notice ?", says the other lady in the group.
"Oh yes, how could I forget that. You know, I said no to moving to Bangalore inspite of the climate there being great. But am having 2nd thoughts about moving to Kerala", says the Mom.
"You sure about that ? You mean you would like to settle in Kerala ?", asks the lady.
"Oh yes, without a doubt. If I had a house here, I would definitely move here".
Ofcourse, I can see that during their short-stay in Kerala, they just about had time to see the good part. Being summer, mangoes & jack-fruits are in abundance. And yes, we get lots of rains and pollution is also much lesser than Chennai and other metros. But there is yet another side to the place, which would be seen only if you are staying here for long and it might make the lady rethink her plans of settling down here.
Let's start with something that any Chennai-ite would take for granted - electricity. We are used to having power 24/365, with maybe a brief outage once in a blue-moon, which is also attended to immediately. Contrast this with the daily scheduled and unscheduled outages in Kerala lasting an hour or more daily. Not fun, eh ? Especially in summer when you have to battle both the heat and mosquitoes.
Coming to the other cool factor for the lady - rains - I too am a big fan of the rains, but as a visitor to Kerala, it is fun to enjoy the rains. But for a normal resident, this can be a real pain as they scramble about their daily routine - getting to work / school etc. The rains in Chennai will be light and maybe last a few minutes usually. But in Kerala, if it rains, it is a real downpour and can last for a long time. Getting to office/school drenched to the skin is not really a good start to the day.
And finally coming to her "If I had a home here..." part, that is a pretty big "if" as far as Kerala is concerned. It's a small state and land is limited, while population density is high and purchasing power is huge with Gulf money coming in like there is no end. Property price keeps increasing by the day and there is only so much of land on sale.
As usual, this is a case of the grass being greener on the other side. Am sure that the lady would rethink her plans of settling down in Kerala, if she knew these facts about how life is in Kerala. I am not even getting into the sudden strikes / hartals called by even fringe unknown political parties, which affect normal life.
Lady, I guess you are way better off in Chennai. If at all when the urge hits you, just catch the train to Kerala and spend a few days here and you should be OK.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Ain't it time we pegged some basic qualifications to being a people's rep ?
There is an email forward that keeps doing the rounds every now and then. It starts off with listing the qualifications of 542 people - of which many are accused for various offences ranging from corruption, rape, murder and other such activities. And finally the punch line - these are our representatives in Parliament.
There is yet another version of this is in circulation about the educational qualifications of the representatives elected by the electorate of the most literate state in India aka Kerala. Many have just primary education to their credit, some have gone till secondary school and a few have been to college.
If this were in some cow-belt state like UttarPradesh or Bihar, it won't be a big deal given the sorry state of education there. But here we are talking Kerala - a state where you can easily chance upon auto-rickshaw drivers having a college degree or two in their kitty. And where you have post-graduates applying in hordes for vacancies in Govt. sector that require the candidate to be only a Class Xth pass.
But then, for things to change, law has to be enacted. And who has to enact such an act ? The same representatives. And while you can accuse them of rape/murder/corruption, you can't accuse them of being idiots enough to enact a law that puts their job in jeopardy.
Leaving apart educational qualifications, is it too much for the electorate ie. you and me, to expect that the person we elect to a state or national body be atleast able to speak ? Especially when the main thing they are going to do in Assembly / Parliament is to speak and put across their opinion for the welfare of the people. What if your representative is toungue-tied due to not knowing the main languages spoken in the country ?
We are discussing Mr.M.K. Azhagiri, who was elected M.P. from Madurai parliamentary constituency and currently a Cabinet minister (Fertilizers). He can speak neither English nor Hindi and these are the only 2 languages spoken in the Indian Parliament. Ofcourse he would like to speak in Tamil, which is the only language he knows - his mother-tongue. But given that Parliament has members from various states, most of which have their own language, this practice would lead to Parliament going the Babel tower way, with no one being able to make sense of the other.
OK, he did not study English, so can't speak that. And since his father's party (DMK) was busy opposing Hindi, he did not learn that either. What are the options now ? He is too old to pick up either language unless he really tries hard. This leaves us in a situation where we have a high-ranking minister in Parliament who does not utter anything, whereas he is expected to hold forth on policies pertaining to his ministry and to reply to questions raised by fellow Parliamentarians during Question Hour.
To be fair to him, I am sure the guy did not really want to go to Delhi. But this was his old man's idea of giving him a Cabinet post and keeping him away from home turf so that he does not lock horns with younger brother M.K.Stalin who is all set to take over from Daddy dear as the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu.
Since there is no way his ego would let him work as a minister under his younger brother, not much chance of bringing Azhagiri back to Chennai. I am sure Daddy Karunanidhi is in a tight spot currently. But hey, where there is a will, there is a way. Since, Azhagiri is the strongman in the southern parts of Tamilnadu (TN) & Stalin reigns supreme in the North TN, why not bifurcate TN into 2 states ? After all, with Telengana & other such demands, state-bifurcation is in fashion currently.
This would result in two states (how do Stalinadu & Azhagunadu sound as possible names?) and both brothers can be Chief Ministers. This would help Daddy solve another problem - getting the Cabinet post vacated by Azhagiri for his daughter dearest Kanimozhi, who is currently sans any portfolio. So, sort of like killing many birds with one stone, ain't it ?
Till then we can continue to watch an embarassed minister in Parliament, unable to answer questions posed by his peers. I think we should borrow the US anthem of "God Bless America" and modify it slightly for our use as "God save India". Sigh !
There is yet another version of this is in circulation about the educational qualifications of the representatives elected by the electorate of the most literate state in India aka Kerala. Many have just primary education to their credit, some have gone till secondary school and a few have been to college.
If this were in some cow-belt state like UttarPradesh or Bihar, it won't be a big deal given the sorry state of education there. But here we are talking Kerala - a state where you can easily chance upon auto-rickshaw drivers having a college degree or two in their kitty. And where you have post-graduates applying in hordes for vacancies in Govt. sector that require the candidate to be only a Class Xth pass.
But then, for things to change, law has to be enacted. And who has to enact such an act ? The same representatives. And while you can accuse them of rape/murder/corruption, you can't accuse them of being idiots enough to enact a law that puts their job in jeopardy.
Leaving apart educational qualifications, is it too much for the electorate ie. you and me, to expect that the person we elect to a state or national body be atleast able to speak ? Especially when the main thing they are going to do in Assembly / Parliament is to speak and put across their opinion for the welfare of the people. What if your representative is toungue-tied due to not knowing the main languages spoken in the country ?
We are discussing Mr.M.K. Azhagiri, who was elected M.P. from Madurai parliamentary constituency and currently a Cabinet minister (Fertilizers). He can speak neither English nor Hindi and these are the only 2 languages spoken in the Indian Parliament. Ofcourse he would like to speak in Tamil, which is the only language he knows - his mother-tongue. But given that Parliament has members from various states, most of which have their own language, this practice would lead to Parliament going the Babel tower way, with no one being able to make sense of the other.
OK, he did not study English, so can't speak that. And since his father's party (DMK) was busy opposing Hindi, he did not learn that either. What are the options now ? He is too old to pick up either language unless he really tries hard. This leaves us in a situation where we have a high-ranking minister in Parliament who does not utter anything, whereas he is expected to hold forth on policies pertaining to his ministry and to reply to questions raised by fellow Parliamentarians during Question Hour.
To be fair to him, I am sure the guy did not really want to go to Delhi. But this was his old man's idea of giving him a Cabinet post and keeping him away from home turf so that he does not lock horns with younger brother M.K.Stalin who is all set to take over from Daddy dear as the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu.
Since there is no way his ego would let him work as a minister under his younger brother, not much chance of bringing Azhagiri back to Chennai. I am sure Daddy Karunanidhi is in a tight spot currently. But hey, where there is a will, there is a way. Since, Azhagiri is the strongman in the southern parts of Tamilnadu (TN) & Stalin reigns supreme in the North TN, why not bifurcate TN into 2 states ? After all, with Telengana & other such demands, state-bifurcation is in fashion currently.
This would result in two states (how do Stalinadu & Azhagunadu sound as possible names?) and both brothers can be Chief Ministers. This would help Daddy solve another problem - getting the Cabinet post vacated by Azhagiri for his daughter dearest Kanimozhi, who is currently sans any portfolio. So, sort of like killing many birds with one stone, ain't it ?
Till then we can continue to watch an embarassed minister in Parliament, unable to answer questions posed by his peers. I think we should borrow the US anthem of "God Bless America" and modify it slightly for our use as "God save India". Sigh !
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