When Ms.Sherawat came hissing. Oops, visiting. :-)

Was pleasantly surprised when I picked up today's newspaper at my home in Kerala. The front page has a snap of Hindi actress Ms.Mallika Sherawat clad in Mallu attire. It seems she was at the Mannaarasala temple yesterday, which is just about 10kms from my home in Kerala.

The last celebrity to visit this temple was erstwhile cricketer Ravi Shastri and his family, to thank the deity for their kid who was born after many years due to the blessings of the goddess here. As per local lore, couples not having kids would be blessed with kids, if they pray to the deity at this temple.

But Ms.Sherawat obviously does not need kids. Atleast not now. So reason for the visit ? Her 'Hollywood' movie “Hiss” is releasing shortly in which she plays the role of a serpent-woman. And guess what, this temple is devoted to snakes.

Check out her snaps in local attire at the temple. Looks cute, na. Especially with the flowers in her hair. There is something about traditional attire, which makes women look homely and demure.

I can bet that this is one look of hers that you won't get to see in the movies.


I turn to the 3rd page & there is another snap of hers, now posing by the temple tank. Plus an interview, where she says the usual things - I love Kerala, blah blah blah.


For those who can’t read Malayalam, the gist of the above article is as below.

She says she feels like a Mallu girl at heart. Oh yeah.

And she loves Kerala so much that she has a home in Kerala, where she stays occasionally. Given that her home is at Trivandrum, it would be just a couple of hours by flight from Bombay, where she normally stays. Good option for a quick getaway. Hmm, nice. I know many who would like to own a vacation home in Kerala. Or for that matter, in Goa.

But the best part is, her home is a single-room dwelling, facing the Arabian sea, and on top of a cliff. Now that surely is something. It would be so much fun to sit on the balcony, taking in the Arabian sea and sip on a cup of hot tea/coffee. Or if you are one who likes his occasional swig, a pint of beer/rum/whiskey (select your poison).

There is only thing that could better this already surreal experience. And that would be to have it raining cats & dogs, which it anyway does for most part of the year in Kerala. And ofcourse to have friends/family with you.

Thanks for dropping by, Ms.Sherawat. It sure was good to have you in God's Own Country !!!

A traffic-jam I sorely miss, a superb neighborhood and some TamBram speak.

It's again resolution time for me. This time it's about 2 things - getting up early every day and putting in atleast 30 mins of exercise each day. So, yesterday night I walked for 3-kms which had me all sweaty and pumped up. Had a cool shower and hit the bed, with the alarm set to 6AM.

Ofcourse, after hitting snooze umpteen times, I finally drag myself out of bed today at 7AM. I fix myself a cup of steaming hot tea, before proceeding to do some mild exercise aimed at the abs - while I would love to have a 6-pack, I would be more than happy with a no-paunch look itself. A quick shower and I am ready for work.

As I ride the bike to work, I can feel the pleasant day. The sun is missing and a cool breeze is blowing - there could be no better day to bike to work. Am reminded of the days I spent in Belgium during November when the days there would be like this and it felt the same as I felt walking to the bus-stop near my hotel in Ghent to catch the bus to work.

Enroute, while crossing the Kotturpuram bridge, I can see rowers practicing in the yucky waters of the Cooum below. I have been taking this route to work for almost all my working life and whenever I see rowers there, I can't help pitying them for having to bear with the unbearable stench of the muck-filled waters, all for the sake of a sport which they love.

Rowing happens to be one of my favourite hobbies & I remember the fun rowing sessions I had on my friend's 1-man fishing canoe (called kodhumbu-vallam in local parlance) in the Achenkoil river near my home. One of my dreams (mine are all small dreams) is to buy a small wooden canoe in Kerala and have a dock made (like the ones you see abroad) at the river-side land we have in Kerala. Hopefully one day soon.

Since I left early, traffic is sparse & in around 30mins I am at Madhya-Kailas signal. My usual route to work involves taking a right-turn onto the IT corridor. But today I have some stuff to be done at one of my favourite banks (SBT) located in one of the best localities of Chennai (Adyar).

I know there is no chance of my settling down in Chennai, but if due to some twist of fate it ever happens, I would stay at Adyar. Even if it means paying through my nose for a residence there. Apart from being a nice, green residential locality with good schools, bus/train connectivity etc, there are lots of memories and quite a few firsts associated with Adyar for me. My first job was at Adyar, my first salary account, my first savings, my first bike and some more firsts that I dare not mention here. :-)

As I wait for the signal at Ambica-Appalam junction to turn green, I look around at the neighborhood where I spent 3 years and more. The first thing to hit me is that the oddly named Mallu restaurant "Traffic Jam", where I used to have lunch for years, is no longer there. It has been demolished & some other structure is coming up there. Also missing is 'Tawau" another oddly named tea-shop, where I have spent many evenings with friends over hot tea and cigarettes.

I take the right-turn into Kasturba Nagar & reach the SBT branch. It has been at the same building for as long as I can remember, just that it would keep shifting between the ground and first floors of the building. SBT is a Kerala-based bank and most of the staff are either Malayalees or Palakkad brahmins. But what endears me to the bank is the service that comes with a smile and is also quick & efficient. And this time too it is no different.

It is just about 9AM when I reached the bank and since they start at 9AM, the staff is just coming in. The manager is there and another lady manning the teller. I need to make a cash deposit and approach the teller. She is courteous (as expected) and talks to me in the TamBrahm accent, which is not really odd, given that the staff composition is as I mentioned earlier.

"Kaasu kudungo ."
// Please give the cash to be deposited.

I handover the cash.

"Account number correct thaane ? Passbook kudungo"
// Is the a/c number correct ? Let me confirm with the passbook.

I tell her that the a/c number is correct and handover the passbook. Also tell her that there is a possibility that my account has been marked dormant, as I have not operated it for a long time.

"Appa-po oru nooru roopa ATM-le edutha, account active-a irukkum"
// Once-in-a-while withdraw 100 bucks from the ATM to keep account active.

I tell her that since my office is far from the bank, I find it tough to operate it and also I don't have an ATM card for this account (never needed one for this account).

"Office-kku late aacho ungalukku?"
// Is it getting late for you to get to work ?

I tell her that it is OK.

"Passbook naalaikku vangikkrela ? Yenna software change pannittu irukka".
//Mind collecting the passbook tomorrow as the banking s/w is being updated ?

I tell her that it is OK and handover the passbook. She returns me the counterfoil for the cash I deposited. I thank her and move on to the manager.

While I can live without an ATM card, I find it tough to operate without netbanking. I collect a netbanking application from the manager, fill it and hand it over. I am expecting to be told that the username/password would be mailed to my home in a week or so. But, am surprised when the manager tells me that if I can wait a few minutes, I can collect it. Just that it will take 24 hours for the account to be activated - I can live with that.

In less than 5 minutes, I am given the netbanking credentials. Now that I have access to my account over the internet, it does not really matter whether the passbook is updated or not, because I can see the account info anytime from anywhere. So no point getting the passbook updated and coming over another day just to collect it.

I walk back to the teller. There are 2 guys in front of me and the same lady who handled my cash-deposit is getting their transactions done. One of them wants to get a cheque encashed & the other guy has cash to deposit. As I await my turn, I notice her talking to the guy with the cheque - she asks him to sign on the reverse of the cheque and also to write his phone number there. What surprises me is that she is talking in normal Tamil - not the TamBrahm tamil she talked with me.

After encashing the cheque, she takes up the next transaction and asks the guy to give the cash and passbook. Also tells him that he will get the passbook only the next day, as the s/w is being updated. Again all this is in normal Chennai Tamil.

And then she sees me standing behind this guy and asks,
"Enna wait pannindu irukkel?" // What are you waiting for ?

I am surprised that she has immediately switched back to TamBrahm tamil with me. I tell her that I have just applied & got netbanking access and so will get the passbook updated some time later.

She says, "OK. Irungo, tharen. Paeru Biju thaane ?" //OK, the name is Biju, right?
I nod my head in assent and she hands over my passbook.

I thank her and move out, surprised that she chose to talk to me in TamBrahm tamil. If she thought I am TamBrahm, this would be the first time this has happened. I have been mistaken for a SriLankan (by some SriLankan co-passengers at Frankfurt) and as a Muslim (by a hotel employee in Serbia) and ofcourse as a Tamilian by most of my colleagues who assume so from my flawless (or so I would love to believe) Tamil. But this has to be the first time and I am not complaining. :-)

Another thing that struck me was the ease with which she was shifting between normal Tamil and TamBrahm tamil. I can juggle at least 4 languages with ease and understand a couple more, but I don't think I would be able to switch so effortlessly between two variants of the same language. Awesome indeed.

I exit the bank satisfied that my work was done quickly and the pleasant weather makes it a hoot to ride to work. Hope it stays this way all day.

Now this is one T20 I love.

While the T20 (Twenty-Twenty) format of cricket has been a big hit in India, with the IPL
raking in the moolah, I never felt the need to watch the game. Actually, I never felt the need to watch the other 2 formats (Test cricket or 50-over matches) of the game either.

Infact, the last match I really watched on TV was the Indian team bringing home in 1983 the Prudential Cup. We were in Assam then and TVs were a big deal. Not many homes had TVs and we watched the grainy relay of the match in the Officers Club of the organisation in which my Dad worked.

So, last week I was surprised to find a T20 format quite appealing. I was at Velachery on my way to work to pick up some colleagues who live there and they suggested we have breakfast at the newly opened Sangeetha restaurant on 100-feet road. Usually I have breakfast at the office pantry and the food is to put it midly, just tasteless.

So, we hit Sangeethas and my friends order the T20 package for Rs.20 each. It seems the restaurant being new, wanted to attract clientele and thus hit upon this novel idea of serving a decent breakfast at Rs20, comprising of an idli, a vada, a choice of Poori or dosai, pongal and a mini coffee. All this for Rs20 is unimaginable in Chennai, where it would cost you Rs.20 for a decent coffee itself. Check out the advt. in the hotel.



The food was good and a steal at Rs.20. I am sure this won't last long. So, if you are at Velachery, you know where to go for good affordable breakfast, in these times of inflation.

Aman's new toy - his birthday present.

Aman turned 3-years old today. How time flies. It seems like it was only yesterday that the nurse brought him out to me, minutes after being born. And to think that from next academic year onwards, he would be going to school. Ofcourse he has been going to school since end-January this year, but that is just a playschool for him to spend 4 hours a day with other kids.

As always, buying presents for someone is a tough job. More so, when the recipient is a kid who is not sure what he really wants. Aman said he wanted a push-around bike, like the one they have in the kid's play-area at ChicKing. But we could not find a similar one at the toy-shop.

It was when I was loitering around at Landmark last weekend, that I came across the demo for a remote-controlled helicopter. Looked fragile, but was pretty durable, given the umpteen falls it was taking with ease, during the demo session. Felt that this would be something Aman would love and picked it up for Rs.1575 after a 10% discount.


Not only did Aman love it, it was a hit with my nieces and sisters. They all want one now. Me and Aman had fun flying it around. And ofcourse crashing it many times during the initial sorties when he had not yet perfected the art of properly landing it.

But since this is not something that Aman can use without adult supervision, I had to pack it up and keep it out of reach along with his other such toys, only to be taken out when I am at Kerala. So, finally what Aman would actually end up using daily is this Clipo toy from Funskool - another gift he received on his birthday.



He is good with building-blocks and loves playing with blocks, but took some time to warm up to the idea of Clipos, which is more or less the same concept.

We had a small birthday-party at home for his birthday, with my sisters and their families plus a couple of close relatives. A 3-kg chocolate cake, shaped like a Teddy bear - so high on calories, it would be sinful. Lunch was Chinese cuisine, catered in. The kids had fun and the ladies did not have to slog in the kitchen, while I got to foot the bill. :-)