It's that time of the year in Chennai when the sun is burning down ferociously, making humans,
animals & plants feel like they are being deep fried. I have seen around 20 Chennai summers,
but every time it feels like a new experience.
February onwards itself, we Chennai-ites start bracing ourselves for the 'hot-oven' experience.
Mentally we try to get prepared for the deep-frying, but when it actually hits us, it seems like
it never was so hot before and this is the first time summer was so hot. Ofcourse we I.T. guys are lucky that we work in air-conditioned environs and do not have to face the harsh weather.
Usually I reach office before the sun gets into hi-temp mode, even if it means sacrificing sleep.
But today, I dozed off after hitting the snooze button on the alarm and thus ended up leaving
home only at 9:30AM, which is a double whammy because apart from it being very hot, it is
rush hour and my commute that normally takes 45mins becomes almost double that. And to
top it, I was commuting by bike today, which means no air-conditioning.
Only silver lining was a quick break mid-way to catch up with an old friend, but that again did
not turn out as expected, leaving me more mad. It is in such times that I seriously start
thinking of moving out of Chennai and starting something new (even if it is small) in Kerala.
Not that Kerala is the epitome of good weather, but atleast it is not as bad as Chennai and also
there are the occasional showers which cool up the place. Don't know when this dream of mine
will ever materialise.
For us in Chennai, maybe we can take consolation in the fact that even Bangalare, the metro
with great weather round the year is roasting currently. It is so bad that my friend who has
been in Bangalore for 10 years has ordered 2 air-conditioners for her home. If a few years
ago, you even mentioned Bangalore and air-conditioner in the same sentence, you would have
had people laughing at you. Guess, we are seeing Global Warming at play.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Here's someone who dreams cars. And I thought loving and living cars was great.
11PM - Tue, 14/Apr/09 :
Have just returned from a busy day at work and had a quick dinner with my wife. My son
stayed up till 10PM waiting for me, but slept off after that. For a kid who hits the bed at 8PM
or so, 10PM is already too late. Had planned to be home atleast by 9PM so that I could spend some time with him, but as usual some last minute stuff needed to be attended to.
Anyway, since it is April and with Chennai in summer mode, it is sultry even at night. So I
decide to take a quick shower. Halfway through the shower, the power goes off & the whole neighborhood is plunged in darkness. Inspite of its faults, one good thing about Chennai was
the reliability as far as electric supply was concerned. In my 2 decades here, power failures
have been very rare and even in those rare instances, it is restored quickly.
This is so unlike Kerala, where apart from the announced load-shedding of 30 minutes daily,
there are atleast 2-3 suprise power cuts, lasting for a few hours. Ofcourse in the last year or
so, even Tamilnadu has been facing power shortage and they have had to resort to planned
load-shedding in Chennai & other places.
My wife was reading the newspaper when the lights went off. I verbally guide her to where
my phone is so that it's display can be used as a light source for her to get candles & matches.
As I finish my shower and get to the bedroom, she already has a candle lighted. I know that
in a few minutes my son will get uncomfortable with the cool air of the airconditioner being absent and start crying. So, I fan him with a magazine.
I assure my wife that power will come back soon, but even after 10 minutes there is no sign
of it returning. Every few minutes I fan my son with the magazine so that his sleep is not interrupted, with my wife asking,"How long will you keep fanning him ? All night?"
When I almost gave up hope of a good sleep that night, the power comes on. As I tell my wife, "See, this is because of good-hearted people like me..", the power goes off again, as if proving
me wrong about me being good-hearted. My wife has the last laugh here.
Again, it is back to sultry weather and to add to the discomfort, some mosquitoes are buzzing around. WhileI cannot sleep with mosquitoes around (I need to kill them all before I hit the
bed), my wife has no such issues and she is soon asleep. I lay awake thinking of various things - my Uncle who passed away yesterday, the void his loss would leave for his family, some stuff
at work etc - and in between remember to fan my son.
My thoughts are broken by my son stirring in his sleep. He turns over in his sleep and talks in his sleep.I have heard him talking in his sleep earlier also, but could not make out the words. Now that his speech has improved a lot & become more legible, I can hear the 2 words clearly. He says "Baleno car".
In the evening, I had talked to him over the phone and told him that after I return from work, we will go out in the Baleno. I wonder if he was dreaming about this in his sleep and thus his uttering these 2 words. Now this truly is a car mad kid. I know that most boys are from a very young age crazy about cars & bikes, just like baby girls are crazy about dolls. But this guy is on
a different plane altogether. If I were to compile all the words he says in a day & rate them on which he says most, I think the list would look something like "Baleno car", "Tittu car", apart from the other most used ones like 'biju pappa' & 'neena mummi'. 'Tittu' is how he pronounces "Swift' and on the road, he can identify a Swift when he sees one. Ofcourse, when it comes to Baleno, any car with a boot is a Baleno as far as he is concerned.
At my auto-forum, we have a set of stickers available to be stuck on our cars and one of the stickers has the tagline "Love cars. Live cars". But here is someone who even dreams of cars.
I hope I am able to make it early home today evening, so that I can take him out for a drive
in his "Baleno car".
Have just returned from a busy day at work and had a quick dinner with my wife. My son
stayed up till 10PM waiting for me, but slept off after that. For a kid who hits the bed at 8PM
or so, 10PM is already too late. Had planned to be home atleast by 9PM so that I could spend some time with him, but as usual some last minute stuff needed to be attended to.
Anyway, since it is April and with Chennai in summer mode, it is sultry even at night. So I
decide to take a quick shower. Halfway through the shower, the power goes off & the whole neighborhood is plunged in darkness. Inspite of its faults, one good thing about Chennai was
the reliability as far as electric supply was concerned. In my 2 decades here, power failures
have been very rare and even in those rare instances, it is restored quickly.
This is so unlike Kerala, where apart from the announced load-shedding of 30 minutes daily,
there are atleast 2-3 suprise power cuts, lasting for a few hours. Ofcourse in the last year or
so, even Tamilnadu has been facing power shortage and they have had to resort to planned
load-shedding in Chennai & other places.
My wife was reading the newspaper when the lights went off. I verbally guide her to where
my phone is so that it's display can be used as a light source for her to get candles & matches.
As I finish my shower and get to the bedroom, she already has a candle lighted. I know that
in a few minutes my son will get uncomfortable with the cool air of the airconditioner being absent and start crying. So, I fan him with a magazine.
I assure my wife that power will come back soon, but even after 10 minutes there is no sign
of it returning. Every few minutes I fan my son with the magazine so that his sleep is not interrupted, with my wife asking,"How long will you keep fanning him ? All night?"
When I almost gave up hope of a good sleep that night, the power comes on. As I tell my wife, "See, this is because of good-hearted people like me..", the power goes off again, as if proving
me wrong about me being good-hearted. My wife has the last laugh here.
Again, it is back to sultry weather and to add to the discomfort, some mosquitoes are buzzing around. WhileI cannot sleep with mosquitoes around (I need to kill them all before I hit the
bed), my wife has no such issues and she is soon asleep. I lay awake thinking of various things - my Uncle who passed away yesterday, the void his loss would leave for his family, some stuff
at work etc - and in between remember to fan my son.
My thoughts are broken by my son stirring in his sleep. He turns over in his sleep and talks in his sleep.I have heard him talking in his sleep earlier also, but could not make out the words. Now that his speech has improved a lot & become more legible, I can hear the 2 words clearly. He says "Baleno car".
In the evening, I had talked to him over the phone and told him that after I return from work, we will go out in the Baleno. I wonder if he was dreaming about this in his sleep and thus his uttering these 2 words. Now this truly is a car mad kid. I know that most boys are from a very young age crazy about cars & bikes, just like baby girls are crazy about dolls. But this guy is on
a different plane altogether. If I were to compile all the words he says in a day & rate them on which he says most, I think the list would look something like "Baleno car", "Tittu car", apart from the other most used ones like 'biju pappa' & 'neena mummi'. 'Tittu' is how he pronounces "Swift' and on the road, he can identify a Swift when he sees one. Ofcourse, when it comes to Baleno, any car with a boot is a Baleno as far as he is concerned.
At my auto-forum, we have a set of stickers available to be stuck on our cars and one of the stickers has the tagline "Love cars. Live cars". But here is someone who even dreams of cars.
I hope I am able to make it early home today evening, so that I can take him out for a drive
in his "Baleno car".
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Not a Vishu I would like to remember.
Today is Vishu in Kerala and New Year's day (or Chittirai Thirunnal) in Tamilnadu. It is
supposed to be a day for good beginnnings - generally a day with good things associated
with it. Though it did not turn out that way for me.
At around 6AM today morning, my cellphone rang. A very unusual thing for my phone to
ring at that time of the day. I am sleeping with my son cuddled close to me. I drag myself
from the bed and irritatedly look at the number & see that it is my sister calling from Kerala.
I hide my irritation and take the call. My sister has called to inform me of the demise of one
of my paternal uncles (my Dad's first cousin). He died in his sleep last night. I knew that he
was not keeping well (kidney trouble) for the past few days and that he was hospitalised, but never thought it was serious enough to be fatal.
I don't know his exact age, but guess that he would have been in his late sixties. Not really
old enough to depart from this world, especially in this day and age, when medicine has
progressed to great heights.
By normal standards with which the world measures us, this uncle of mine did not really
achieve anything great in life. He did not amass wealth, neither did he build a big luxurious
home for himself & family. When I was growing up, he used to do business involving mining
and sale of sand used for constructing homes. But then a change in government policy made mining sand from the river bed illegal & that was the end of his venture. His daughter then supported the family with her earnings from the job in New Delhi. But he was known to
one-and-all as a good human being, which in my books rates much more than having
loads of cash or assets.
Every day, his routine involved a visit to the nearest main junction which is around 2 kms
from his home. Enroute, he would need to cross the Achenkoil river using the ferry service.
Since our home is located on the side of the road he takes, on most days he would drop in
to have a small chat or a cup of tea.
In the last few months, my son had added him to the list of people known to him and would address him as 'Appachan', which is a Mallu Christian way of addressing elderly people in
general or grandfathers specifically. I wondered whether my son will notice his absence - I
have no idea what goes on in that tiny mind.
He also left behind a son, who joined his elder sister in Delhi and even got a job there. But
then, due to reasons known only to him, he vanished for a decade or so and surfaced only recently - I had done a post on the son's return. The saving grace was the son being at his father's side during the latter's last days, taking care of him at the hospital.
While he never talked about it, I am sure that my uncle must have been overjoyed at his
son's return after such a long period and I think he would have left the world in peace with
that major worry gone.
Rest in peace, Uncle. I can still see you walking down the road in front of our house, smiling
at all the known faces, stopping to talk to acquaintances, chatting with my son, having a cup
of tea at our home etc. Memories that will remain with me for ever.
supposed to be a day for good beginnnings - generally a day with good things associated
with it. Though it did not turn out that way for me.
At around 6AM today morning, my cellphone rang. A very unusual thing for my phone to
ring at that time of the day. I am sleeping with my son cuddled close to me. I drag myself
from the bed and irritatedly look at the number & see that it is my sister calling from Kerala.
I hide my irritation and take the call. My sister has called to inform me of the demise of one
of my paternal uncles (my Dad's first cousin). He died in his sleep last night. I knew that he
was not keeping well (kidney trouble) for the past few days and that he was hospitalised, but never thought it was serious enough to be fatal.
I don't know his exact age, but guess that he would have been in his late sixties. Not really
old enough to depart from this world, especially in this day and age, when medicine has
progressed to great heights.
By normal standards with which the world measures us, this uncle of mine did not really
achieve anything great in life. He did not amass wealth, neither did he build a big luxurious
home for himself & family. When I was growing up, he used to do business involving mining
and sale of sand used for constructing homes. But then a change in government policy made mining sand from the river bed illegal & that was the end of his venture. His daughter then supported the family with her earnings from the job in New Delhi. But he was known to
one-and-all as a good human being, which in my books rates much more than having
loads of cash or assets.
Every day, his routine involved a visit to the nearest main junction which is around 2 kms
from his home. Enroute, he would need to cross the Achenkoil river using the ferry service.
Since our home is located on the side of the road he takes, on most days he would drop in
to have a small chat or a cup of tea.
In the last few months, my son had added him to the list of people known to him and would address him as 'Appachan', which is a Mallu Christian way of addressing elderly people in
general or grandfathers specifically. I wondered whether my son will notice his absence - I
have no idea what goes on in that tiny mind.
He also left behind a son, who joined his elder sister in Delhi and even got a job there. But
then, due to reasons known only to him, he vanished for a decade or so and surfaced only recently - I had done a post on the son's return. The saving grace was the son being at his father's side during the latter's last days, taking care of him at the hospital.
While he never talked about it, I am sure that my uncle must have been overjoyed at his
son's return after such a long period and I think he would have left the world in peace with
that major worry gone.
Rest in peace, Uncle. I can still see you walking down the road in front of our house, smiling
at all the known faces, stopping to talk to acquaintances, chatting with my son, having a cup
of tea at our home etc. Memories that will remain with me for ever.
Friday, April 03, 2009
When kids turn adults and vice-versa...
For weekend after weekend for the past year & a half, my routine has been the same - get
onto a train to Kerala to spend time with my son. I avoid even feeble attempts at trying to calculate the amount I have paid to Indian Railways, because I know it would be substantial enough to give me a mild heart attack. But do I regret it ? Would I do it another way, if given another chance ?
No way. No amount of money can substitute for the happiness I get by spending time with
my son. Playing with him, talking to him, hear him talk, watch his naughty actions, take him swimming in the river, have him tag along for a fishing session etc etc. Each & every act of
mine while at Kerala depends upon the impact it will have on him. For eg., I just quit the odd night out with friends because I will miss him for those 2-3 hours.
While most of what he does and says is typical kiddy behaviour, we saw one behaviour which
has us all flummoxed. He is all excited when he comes to the station with my Dad to pick me
up. They usually park the car under the shade of a tree by the side of the road that runs along
the railway track. As I walk to the car, he would be standing on the front seat and can identify me from far and is all happy.
But the moment I open the car door, get in and take him in my arms, he goes all silent. His
face takes on a kind of silent & sad expression and he would not say even a word. And this
is the same kid who till I came, had been talking animatedly with my Dad. As my Dad drives
us home, he would just sit in my lap. I would kiss him all over and we indulge in a kind of
bonding exercise that over time has become a routine unique to us. I would hold his cheeks against mine and we would remain that way for many minutes. He would just stay stationary
all the time, with his face against mine.
In around 10 minutes we would reach home. He would still not talk anything, inspite of my
wife & Mom trying their best to make him talk. This lasts for another 10 minutes, after which
he would return to his usual happy, talkative self. Since we have no clue why he becomes so silent like this, we think it could be because after missing me for all of the week, he becomes speechless due to happiness on seeing me again. I guess his little heart is unable to make any sense of why I am there for 2 days and then vanish for the next 5 days.
And once I am there, the only time he will let me out of his sights is when he is sleeping. For every moment otherwise, he will keep me within range, which I guess is because he thinks
that I will vanish again if he lets me out of his sight. This does lead to situations where I have
to wait for him to sleep if I have to even do something as trivial as take a bath. Else, he would stand outside the bathroom & keep banging on the door and calling out my name, for which
he has 3 favourite variations. He started off by calling me "Biju", then based on my Mom's exhortation (a kid calling its parent by name wasn't acceptable to her, though I myself had
no issues about that) he graduated to "Biju pappa". And recently, he has added "Biju pappa-ji" also as a variant - though we have no idea where he picked up the 'ji' from.
While my arrival at Kerala is a happy occasion (atleast after the initial 20mins of his silence), farwells are getting tougher by the day. As he grows older, he understands that I am leaving
and starts making a big racket. So, for a few weeks, after reaching the station, I would have
my wife divert his attention, while I would move out of his sight & then my Dad would drive
off. Not entirely fool-proof, because he would make out my absence and start crying.
Later my Mom felt that this deception was not a good thing and it is better that I openly tell
him that I am leaving, give him a kiss and say 'Ta ta'. Her logic was that he is growing older
and understands things and it is better to be open with him. While I did not really think this would work, I did try it out for the last few weeks and to my surprise it worked just fine. For
a brief moment, I could see confusion/sadness on his face when I say my farewell & kiss him,
but then like a grown-up boy, his face would show understanding and he would say Ta-ta in return.
Ofcourse, I can't claim to be as brave as him after each farewell. As I board the train and for
the next hour or so, my thoughts are only about him and all my pretence of being an adult
who has control over his emotions just breaks and I cry inside, without any tears.
onto a train to Kerala to spend time with my son. I avoid even feeble attempts at trying to calculate the amount I have paid to Indian Railways, because I know it would be substantial enough to give me a mild heart attack. But do I regret it ? Would I do it another way, if given another chance ?
No way. No amount of money can substitute for the happiness I get by spending time with
my son. Playing with him, talking to him, hear him talk, watch his naughty actions, take him swimming in the river, have him tag along for a fishing session etc etc. Each & every act of
mine while at Kerala depends upon the impact it will have on him. For eg., I just quit the odd night out with friends because I will miss him for those 2-3 hours.
While most of what he does and says is typical kiddy behaviour, we saw one behaviour which
has us all flummoxed. He is all excited when he comes to the station with my Dad to pick me
up. They usually park the car under the shade of a tree by the side of the road that runs along
the railway track. As I walk to the car, he would be standing on the front seat and can identify me from far and is all happy.
But the moment I open the car door, get in and take him in my arms, he goes all silent. His
face takes on a kind of silent & sad expression and he would not say even a word. And this
is the same kid who till I came, had been talking animatedly with my Dad. As my Dad drives
us home, he would just sit in my lap. I would kiss him all over and we indulge in a kind of
bonding exercise that over time has become a routine unique to us. I would hold his cheeks against mine and we would remain that way for many minutes. He would just stay stationary
all the time, with his face against mine.
In around 10 minutes we would reach home. He would still not talk anything, inspite of my
wife & Mom trying their best to make him talk. This lasts for another 10 minutes, after which
he would return to his usual happy, talkative self. Since we have no clue why he becomes so silent like this, we think it could be because after missing me for all of the week, he becomes speechless due to happiness on seeing me again. I guess his little heart is unable to make any sense of why I am there for 2 days and then vanish for the next 5 days.
And once I am there, the only time he will let me out of his sights is when he is sleeping. For every moment otherwise, he will keep me within range, which I guess is because he thinks
that I will vanish again if he lets me out of his sight. This does lead to situations where I have
to wait for him to sleep if I have to even do something as trivial as take a bath. Else, he would stand outside the bathroom & keep banging on the door and calling out my name, for which
he has 3 favourite variations. He started off by calling me "Biju", then based on my Mom's exhortation (a kid calling its parent by name wasn't acceptable to her, though I myself had
no issues about that) he graduated to "Biju pappa". And recently, he has added "Biju pappa-ji" also as a variant - though we have no idea where he picked up the 'ji' from.
While my arrival at Kerala is a happy occasion (atleast after the initial 20mins of his silence), farwells are getting tougher by the day. As he grows older, he understands that I am leaving
and starts making a big racket. So, for a few weeks, after reaching the station, I would have
my wife divert his attention, while I would move out of his sight & then my Dad would drive
off. Not entirely fool-proof, because he would make out my absence and start crying.
Later my Mom felt that this deception was not a good thing and it is better that I openly tell
him that I am leaving, give him a kiss and say 'Ta ta'. Her logic was that he is growing older
and understands things and it is better to be open with him. While I did not really think this would work, I did try it out for the last few weeks and to my surprise it worked just fine. For
a brief moment, I could see confusion/sadness on his face when I say my farewell & kiss him,
but then like a grown-up boy, his face would show understanding and he would say Ta-ta in return.
Ofcourse, I can't claim to be as brave as him after each farewell. As I board the train and for
the next hour or so, my thoughts are only about him and all my pretence of being an adult
who has control over his emotions just breaks and I cry inside, without any tears.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Overwhelming to know that people do remember you.
Another All Fools Day, which also happens to be my birthday. Another year gone by and the most worrying part is about your age being incremented by 1. Anyway, the consolation is that
I am not the only one who is growing older - unless you happen to be Benjamin Button, no one
is growing any younger. So..
It feels great to know that people take the effort to remember your birthday and call up or
sms you on your birthday. Apart from close family members who usually remember anyway,
I have had a varied bouquet of wishes this time.
An old colleague (we worked together some 8 years ago) & good friend called up from Japan.
Something he has been doing for years now. Really appreciate it, man.
Friends on my online auto-forum sms-ed their wishes & even created a thread on the forum.
My sister, her daughter Ann, Ann's cousins all got together around the phone and sang the
whole "Happy Birthday" routine. This truly was an experience for me. Thank you Ann, Susan,
Robin, Sangi, Manju et. al.
Since my birthday fell on a weekday this year, it meant I would not be home with my family.
So, my wife started the celebrations early on 30th March itself when I was home. On return
from work, she came with a chocolate cake. And if that was not surprising enough, she had a
gift for me too - a new mobile phone - something that I had been eyeing for a long time, but
in my typical style was avoiding purchase.
Ofcourse, I did not know that she had yet surprise gift lined up in my travel bag, which I
chanced upon only in the train to Chennai. A set of 3 novels by famous Malayalam authors.
While I prefer reading in English, in the recent past I had sort of developed a fascination for
Malayalam literature and thus these books made an apt gift.
Thanks, one and all. It feels great to know that you are in the thoughts of people.
I am not the only one who is growing older - unless you happen to be Benjamin Button, no one
is growing any younger. So..
It feels great to know that people take the effort to remember your birthday and call up or
sms you on your birthday. Apart from close family members who usually remember anyway,
I have had a varied bouquet of wishes this time.
An old colleague (we worked together some 8 years ago) & good friend called up from Japan.
Something he has been doing for years now. Really appreciate it, man.
Friends on my online auto-forum sms-ed their wishes & even created a thread on the forum.
My sister, her daughter Ann, Ann's cousins all got together around the phone and sang the
whole "Happy Birthday" routine. This truly was an experience for me. Thank you Ann, Susan,
Robin, Sangi, Manju et. al.
Since my birthday fell on a weekday this year, it meant I would not be home with my family.
So, my wife started the celebrations early on 30th March itself when I was home. On return
from work, she came with a chocolate cake. And if that was not surprising enough, she had a
gift for me too - a new mobile phone - something that I had been eyeing for a long time, but
in my typical style was avoiding purchase.
Ofcourse, I did not know that she had yet surprise gift lined up in my travel bag, which I
chanced upon only in the train to Chennai. A set of 3 novels by famous Malayalam authors.
While I prefer reading in English, in the recent past I had sort of developed a fascination for
Malayalam literature and thus these books made an apt gift.
Thanks, one and all. It feels great to know that you are in the thoughts of people.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The unfinished house - waiting for an owner who will never come.
Just adjacent to our home in Kerala lay a vacant piece of land measuring close to an acre.
For as long as I can remember it remained vacant with overgrown shrubs. A year or so ago, someone I know bought the land and built a superb house for himself on 1/4th of the land.
This snap shows the side-view of the home as seen from the terrace of our home - the front
of the home looks even better. I did have a snap of the front, but unable to locate it now.
He marked out another 1/4th of the land for his brother (to build a house in the future) and
put up the remaining land for sale - he happens to be in the real-estate business. A family
living some 2kms away bought 5 cents (100 cents = 1 acre) of this land to build a home, since
their current home is quite off the main road and not exactly very accessible.
Since the parents were working in North India, it was their young son (21 years old) who was supervising the construction activity. The work was progressing fast and the foundation was done. Since monsoon set in, he decided to wait a bit before going further with putting up the walls and doing the roof concreting.
A view of the construction with the foundation complete, as seen from our yard.
The young guy had just finished his Diploma and had recently joined work some months ago.
I am sure he must have been eagerly waiting for the house to be completed as early as possible and to move in into the new residence. However, fate had other plans in mind. While riding pillion with a friend on a motorbike, they were hit by a bus, leading to the young man's death. The friend riding the bike has serious injuries, but atleast lucky to be alive.
I don't know about other countries, but in most parts of India, such a sequence of events
would immediately lead to the plot being labelled unlucky/jinxed, which is what happened
in this case also. Construction activity has been abandoned & over the past many months, plants/weeds have grown all over the place to such an extent that from our yard, it is no
longer possible to see the foundation.
I was talking to a friend last week and he was telling that the family plans to dispose of the
plot as-is, since they have no intention to setup home in a plot that they consider jinxed &
which brought them misfortune. And since others would also consider the plot as ill-fated,
I don't see anyone turning up to buy it either.
The quirks of fate are strange and unexplainable. Till one fine day, the place was bustling
with activity, a dream was in the making and then things change so fast that no one wants
to have anything to do with the whole thing.
For as long as I can remember it remained vacant with overgrown shrubs. A year or so ago, someone I know bought the land and built a superb house for himself on 1/4th of the land.
This snap shows the side-view of the home as seen from the terrace of our home - the front
of the home looks even better. I did have a snap of the front, but unable to locate it now.
He marked out another 1/4th of the land for his brother (to build a house in the future) and
put up the remaining land for sale - he happens to be in the real-estate business. A family
living some 2kms away bought 5 cents (100 cents = 1 acre) of this land to build a home, since
their current home is quite off the main road and not exactly very accessible.
Since the parents were working in North India, it was their young son (21 years old) who was supervising the construction activity. The work was progressing fast and the foundation was done. Since monsoon set in, he decided to wait a bit before going further with putting up the walls and doing the roof concreting.
A view of the construction with the foundation complete, as seen from our yard.
The young guy had just finished his Diploma and had recently joined work some months ago.
I am sure he must have been eagerly waiting for the house to be completed as early as possible and to move in into the new residence. However, fate had other plans in mind. While riding pillion with a friend on a motorbike, they were hit by a bus, leading to the young man's death. The friend riding the bike has serious injuries, but atleast lucky to be alive.
I don't know about other countries, but in most parts of India, such a sequence of events
would immediately lead to the plot being labelled unlucky/jinxed, which is what happened
in this case also. Construction activity has been abandoned & over the past many months, plants/weeds have grown all over the place to such an extent that from our yard, it is no
longer possible to see the foundation.
I was talking to a friend last week and he was telling that the family plans to dispose of the
plot as-is, since they have no intention to setup home in a plot that they consider jinxed &
which brought them misfortune. And since others would also consider the plot as ill-fated,
I don't see anyone turning up to buy it either.
The quirks of fate are strange and unexplainable. Till one fine day, the place was bustling
with activity, a dream was in the making and then things change so fast that no one wants
to have anything to do with the whole thing.
Friday, March 20, 2009
To hold on and stifle or to let go and worry ?
It's a nice Saturday evening and I am playing with my son in our room. We are racing a r/c Ferrari that I recently bought for my son though I am the one who usually ends up playing
with it. He is kinda afraid of it because it moves by itself (when I use the remote). He likes
to just roll it around with his hands or bang it hard on the floor - already the tiny rear-view mirror on one side is gone. I tried to teach him to use the remote, but he either did not understand it or did not like running the car with the remote.
My wife has finished her kitchen chores and joins us. She watches us play for some time and
then pops a question which seems out-of-context to me.
Wife : If our son desires to join the Indian Army when he grows up, would you let him ?
I am surprised at the question. Our son is not even 2 years old and she is asking about a
decision he might take when he is 18 or more.
Me : Well, if that is his wish, why not ?
Wife : You mean you don't have any issues with his joining the Army ?
Me : Yes. And what is wrong about joining the Army ? When I was growing up, I really
wanted to join the Army, but since it was not a serious interest, I just outgrew it.
Wife : I won't let him join the Army.
Me : Well, that depends on whether he would abide by your decision. Anyway this is
something that is so much into the future. We will deal with it when we come to it.
Why my wife brought up this discussion became clear to me only yesterday when I watched
the DVD of the Tamil movie "Vaaranam Aayiram". She had watched it last week and in the movie the protagonist tells his parents that he intends to join the Army. Like it happened in
our case, the Dad was sort of OK with it, while the Mom was all against it, due to the danger involved in the profession. Ofcourse the son goes ahead with his decision.
I think my wife expected me to have the same viewpoint as her because some weeks ago
when we were discussing something else related to our son, both of us had the same view.
Wife : What do you think about sending our son to all these school outings ?
Me : You mean the kind where the kids and a couple of teachers go visit places either on a
day trip or for 3-7 days ?
Wife : Yes. Will you let him go ?
Me : No way. If at all he insists, either both of us or atleast one of us will accompany him.
Wife : Me too. I would be worried if he were to go alone on such trips. Every other day there
is some news in the papers about how a kid or two drowned somewhere or had some other
fatal accident when on such trips.
Me : Yeah. That is my worry also. Ofcourse that is not going to go down well with him. Kids
hate it when their parents don't let them go on such trips with their friends.
Wife : Tell me about it. My parents would not allow me to go and I hated it.
Me : Still you are going to do the same when it comes to your kid. :-)
Wife : Well, that is because I love him and worry about him.
Me : Hmm. As if at that age, he is going to understand this logic. He is going to hate us for this.
Wife : I don't care if he were to hate me, but there is no way on earth I am going to let him
go to outings where I cannot be sure of his personal safety.
I know we are being too paranoid, but like they say, you only understand a parent's fears and feelings when you yourself become one. I just hope we don't overdo the concern thing & make our son feel stifled.
P.S. : No idea what career our son will opt for when he grows up, but I am sure he would find it loads of fun to read years later about how his parents worried about such silly stuff:-)
with it. He is kinda afraid of it because it moves by itself (when I use the remote). He likes
to just roll it around with his hands or bang it hard on the floor - already the tiny rear-view mirror on one side is gone. I tried to teach him to use the remote, but he either did not understand it or did not like running the car with the remote.
My wife has finished her kitchen chores and joins us. She watches us play for some time and
then pops a question which seems out-of-context to me.
Wife : If our son desires to join the Indian Army when he grows up, would you let him ?
I am surprised at the question. Our son is not even 2 years old and she is asking about a
decision he might take when he is 18 or more.
Me : Well, if that is his wish, why not ?
Wife : You mean you don't have any issues with his joining the Army ?
Me : Yes. And what is wrong about joining the Army ? When I was growing up, I really
wanted to join the Army, but since it was not a serious interest, I just outgrew it.
Wife : I won't let him join the Army.
Me : Well, that depends on whether he would abide by your decision. Anyway this is
something that is so much into the future. We will deal with it when we come to it.
Why my wife brought up this discussion became clear to me only yesterday when I watched
the DVD of the Tamil movie "Vaaranam Aayiram". She had watched it last week and in the movie the protagonist tells his parents that he intends to join the Army. Like it happened in
our case, the Dad was sort of OK with it, while the Mom was all against it, due to the danger involved in the profession. Ofcourse the son goes ahead with his decision.
I think my wife expected me to have the same viewpoint as her because some weeks ago
when we were discussing something else related to our son, both of us had the same view.
Wife : What do you think about sending our son to all these school outings ?
Me : You mean the kind where the kids and a couple of teachers go visit places either on a
day trip or for 3-7 days ?
Wife : Yes. Will you let him go ?
Me : No way. If at all he insists, either both of us or atleast one of us will accompany him.
Wife : Me too. I would be worried if he were to go alone on such trips. Every other day there
is some news in the papers about how a kid or two drowned somewhere or had some other
fatal accident when on such trips.
Me : Yeah. That is my worry also. Ofcourse that is not going to go down well with him. Kids
hate it when their parents don't let them go on such trips with their friends.
Wife : Tell me about it. My parents would not allow me to go and I hated it.
Me : Still you are going to do the same when it comes to your kid. :-)
Wife : Well, that is because I love him and worry about him.
Me : Hmm. As if at that age, he is going to understand this logic. He is going to hate us for this.
Wife : I don't care if he were to hate me, but there is no way on earth I am going to let him
go to outings where I cannot be sure of his personal safety.
I know we are being too paranoid, but like they say, you only understand a parent's fears and feelings when you yourself become one. I just hope we don't overdo the concern thing & make our son feel stifled.
P.S. : No idea what career our son will opt for when he grows up, but I am sure he would find it loads of fun to read years later about how his parents worried about such silly stuff:-)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The lost childhood.
Growing up as a kid, I remember many instances when I cribbed about not having this or not
having that. For eg. I remember the time when we were staying in Assam, where it used to get
really cold during winters, and my friend & classmate Dheeraj had a snazzy black jacket. From
the time I set my eyes on it, I needed one myself. Ofcourse I had enough warm clothing like
sweaters, school coat etc, but just that it was not as hep as this black jacket.
Started pestering my Dad for weeks and finally he consented to get me a jacket. I was on
cloud nine dreaming about the jacket. Little did I know that my Dad's idea of a jacket was
way off from what I had in mind. He did get me a jacket, but while it did the job of keeping
me warm well, it was not what I wanted. Just the fact that I remember something that happened more than 20 years ago should give you an indication of how disappointed I was.
Other disappointments/cribs were about the motor-bike I lusted for, but which he never got
me or the Sony walkman that I desired, but never got. Ofcourse it was not that money was
an issue, just that he did not think it priority enough. And guess what, when my sisters asked
for a bike and walkman, he promptly got it for them. That hurt me even more. And oh yes,
to be fair to him, Dad did get me 2 bicycles, both spanking new, during my childhood, which
was a perfect gift at the perfect time.
But as I grew up, I understood that the fun is in giving, not in receiving. Especially to those
who cannot afford it. What use is giving a Merc to your wife who earns more than enough to
buy one herself ? Instead, if you get a toy for a kid whose parents are not getting it for them,
their joy is boundless, which makes you also happy.
Inspite of these small disappointments, my childhood was fairly happy and content. We never
had to worry about food, clothing, shelter or study material. These are stuff that most of us
take for granted. But there are so many kids out there in India (and the world) for whom
these basic things are a luxury. They have no time to crib about a jacket that they desire,
because the growling stomach is aching for food. And all their thoughts are on how to find
something to eat to ward of hunger.
Last Friday I was (as usual) on the train to Kerala. Had taken the 4PM train since I did not
get tickets in the 8PM train from Chennai. Around 6PM, the train was nearing Katpadi
station and I was reading the newspaper, when I come across this scene.
A young boy who must be just about 3 years old (1 year older than my son) is leading a blind
man (his father ?) along the aisle of the train compartment. With one hand he is holding the
man's walking stick and in the other hand is a small plastic satchet of salted/fried peanuts.
They stop at each coupe and people drop coins into the tin that the blind man is having in his
other hand.
The kid looks hungry and wants to have a go at the peanuts, but he has only one hand free &
he needs both hands to rip open the plastic satchet. I don't know whether it was because his patience wore thin or because he was unable to control his hunger, but whatever was the
motivation, he comes up with another plan. He uses his teeth to rip off the plastic seal, while
holding the satchet in his one free hand. After a few bites, he now has access to the peanuts
in the satchet and starts eating them.
They pass me and some moments later, I become engrossed in my newspaper again. After
an hour or so, they return. Again the kid is leading the man by the walking stick, but there
is nothing in his hand - I guess he finished eating the peanuts. But what shocked/surprised
me was that the kid was asleep. Yes, even though walking along the aisle, leading a blind
man, the poor kid had gone to sleep, due to either exhaustion or hunger. He was kind of in
auto-pilot mode, walking along even though asleep.
It was shocking. More so because ever since I became a parent, any kid on the street reminds
me of my son. And to know that there are so many such young boys/girls everywhere who
lead a life that has no place for what we took for granted - a happy childhood. The kid is just 3 years old and is already earning and contributing to the family kitty. What about his lost childhood ? Life is just not fair.
having that. For eg. I remember the time when we were staying in Assam, where it used to get
really cold during winters, and my friend & classmate Dheeraj had a snazzy black jacket. From
the time I set my eyes on it, I needed one myself. Ofcourse I had enough warm clothing like
sweaters, school coat etc, but just that it was not as hep as this black jacket.
Started pestering my Dad for weeks and finally he consented to get me a jacket. I was on
cloud nine dreaming about the jacket. Little did I know that my Dad's idea of a jacket was
way off from what I had in mind. He did get me a jacket, but while it did the job of keeping
me warm well, it was not what I wanted. Just the fact that I remember something that happened more than 20 years ago should give you an indication of how disappointed I was.
Other disappointments/cribs were about the motor-bike I lusted for, but which he never got
me or the Sony walkman that I desired, but never got. Ofcourse it was not that money was
an issue, just that he did not think it priority enough. And guess what, when my sisters asked
for a bike and walkman, he promptly got it for them. That hurt me even more. And oh yes,
to be fair to him, Dad did get me 2 bicycles, both spanking new, during my childhood, which
was a perfect gift at the perfect time.
But as I grew up, I understood that the fun is in giving, not in receiving. Especially to those
who cannot afford it. What use is giving a Merc to your wife who earns more than enough to
buy one herself ? Instead, if you get a toy for a kid whose parents are not getting it for them,
their joy is boundless, which makes you also happy.
Inspite of these small disappointments, my childhood was fairly happy and content. We never
had to worry about food, clothing, shelter or study material. These are stuff that most of us
take for granted. But there are so many kids out there in India (and the world) for whom
these basic things are a luxury. They have no time to crib about a jacket that they desire,
because the growling stomach is aching for food. And all their thoughts are on how to find
something to eat to ward of hunger.
Last Friday I was (as usual) on the train to Kerala. Had taken the 4PM train since I did not
get tickets in the 8PM train from Chennai. Around 6PM, the train was nearing Katpadi
station and I was reading the newspaper, when I come across this scene.
A young boy who must be just about 3 years old (1 year older than my son) is leading a blind
man (his father ?) along the aisle of the train compartment. With one hand he is holding the
man's walking stick and in the other hand is a small plastic satchet of salted/fried peanuts.
They stop at each coupe and people drop coins into the tin that the blind man is having in his
other hand.
The kid looks hungry and wants to have a go at the peanuts, but he has only one hand free &
he needs both hands to rip open the plastic satchet. I don't know whether it was because his patience wore thin or because he was unable to control his hunger, but whatever was the
motivation, he comes up with another plan. He uses his teeth to rip off the plastic seal, while
holding the satchet in his one free hand. After a few bites, he now has access to the peanuts
in the satchet and starts eating them.
They pass me and some moments later, I become engrossed in my newspaper again. After
an hour or so, they return. Again the kid is leading the man by the walking stick, but there
is nothing in his hand - I guess he finished eating the peanuts. But what shocked/surprised
me was that the kid was asleep. Yes, even though walking along the aisle, leading a blind
man, the poor kid had gone to sleep, due to either exhaustion or hunger. He was kind of in
auto-pilot mode, walking along even though asleep.
It was shocking. More so because ever since I became a parent, any kid on the street reminds
me of my son. And to know that there are so many such young boys/girls everywhere who
lead a life that has no place for what we took for granted - a happy childhood. The kid is just 3 years old and is already earning and contributing to the family kitty. What about his lost childhood ? Life is just not fair.
Monday, March 16, 2009
The temple trip, couple of serpents and an elephant.
Another day on the road, another elephant ambling along the highway. This time my son was wide awake. However, even though we tried to show him the elephant, he could not see it - maybe the car was a bit too fast for his eyes to focus on the animal.
Decided that it is best to take him up close to an elephant. There is a temple near my wife's
home which I know has an elephant. I had been there earlier to photograph/videograph the animal taking a leisurely bath. So, last Saturday evening, me, my wife, son & my sister-in-law
(SIL) set out for the temple.
I have been to countless Hindu temples in my life - to admire the old architecture, to just
look around, to just sit near the ambala-kulam (temple pond), etc. However, as things stand today in India, religion is increasingly being used to spread hatred against people practicing
other religions. While most religions teach us to live in harmony with all, politicians in India
are using it as a tool to invoke hatred, in an attempt to increase their vote-bank.
It is an unwritten rule in most temples that non-Hindus should not enter the temple. In some
temples, they even have it clearly written at the entrance itself. The sanctum-sanctorum is
especially out-of-bounds for non-Hindus. However, the 4 of us have nothing on us that visibly identifies us as Christians and so we walk into the temple premises. Ofcourse, we decide not
to enter the sanctum-sanctorum - why take an unnecessary risk ?
We remove our footwear outside the compound (as instructed on a notice board there) and
walk inside. First stop is the serpent shrine - where there are two idols representing the
serpent gods (one male and another female). We walk around the temple taking in the sights
and reach the place where the elephant is tethered.
There is a steel gate at the entrance to the elephant's area, but it is left open. Maybe because
the elephant is anyway chained to a huge concrete pillar and because that flimsy steel gate
won't be any hindrance for such a big animal anyway.
A view of the huge animal with the gate in the foreground.
There is a huge pile of coconut tree leaves in front of it, which it is munching on.
It takes one of the long leafy stems, strips and eats all the green on it and with its trunk uses
the long stem to scratch its back. While my wife and her sister stay a little away, I walk to the gate with my son in my arms. As he takes in the sight of this big animal that he has never seen before, I look at his face. His eyes are wide as he tries to make sense of what is just some 15 metres away. He is captivated by the sight of the animal eating, scratching its back etc.
Suddenly, the animal turns sideways to face us, stops eating and just looks at the four of us.
This does not look good and my wife is now a little terrified and urges us to move away. I think
it is better to be safe, lest something about our presence irritates the animal. I know that those chains will be broken in a jiffy if the animal puts its mind to it and the iron gate will be history
if the animal just about nudges it with its trunk.
So, we move to the adjacent temple pond, which was good because from there we could still
have a good view of the animal, yet be at a safe distance.
We spend some more time watching the animal. It still seems to be looking at us. Time for a close-up of the animal. After all there should be some use for the 15x optical zoom that I paid through my nose for. Looks menacing up-close.
Visit done, we return home and on the way, my SIL points out a 20-metre section of damaged wall of the temple. Result of another elephant gone beserk - no wonder my wife & SIL maintain
a respectable distance from the animal.
Decided that it is best to take him up close to an elephant. There is a temple near my wife's
home which I know has an elephant. I had been there earlier to photograph/videograph the animal taking a leisurely bath. So, last Saturday evening, me, my wife, son & my sister-in-law
(SIL) set out for the temple.
I have been to countless Hindu temples in my life - to admire the old architecture, to just
look around, to just sit near the ambala-kulam (temple pond), etc. However, as things stand today in India, religion is increasingly being used to spread hatred against people practicing
other religions. While most religions teach us to live in harmony with all, politicians in India
are using it as a tool to invoke hatred, in an attempt to increase their vote-bank.
It is an unwritten rule in most temples that non-Hindus should not enter the temple. In some
temples, they even have it clearly written at the entrance itself. The sanctum-sanctorum is
especially out-of-bounds for non-Hindus. However, the 4 of us have nothing on us that visibly identifies us as Christians and so we walk into the temple premises. Ofcourse, we decide not
to enter the sanctum-sanctorum - why take an unnecessary risk ?
We remove our footwear outside the compound (as instructed on a notice board there) and
walk inside. First stop is the serpent shrine - where there are two idols representing the
serpent gods (one male and another female). We walk around the temple taking in the sights
and reach the place where the elephant is tethered.
There is a steel gate at the entrance to the elephant's area, but it is left open. Maybe because
the elephant is anyway chained to a huge concrete pillar and because that flimsy steel gate
won't be any hindrance for such a big animal anyway.
A view of the huge animal with the gate in the foreground.
There is a huge pile of coconut tree leaves in front of it, which it is munching on.
It takes one of the long leafy stems, strips and eats all the green on it and with its trunk uses
the long stem to scratch its back. While my wife and her sister stay a little away, I walk to the gate with my son in my arms. As he takes in the sight of this big animal that he has never seen before, I look at his face. His eyes are wide as he tries to make sense of what is just some 15 metres away. He is captivated by the sight of the animal eating, scratching its back etc.
Suddenly, the animal turns sideways to face us, stops eating and just looks at the four of us.
This does not look good and my wife is now a little terrified and urges us to move away. I think
it is better to be safe, lest something about our presence irritates the animal. I know that those chains will be broken in a jiffy if the animal puts its mind to it and the iron gate will be history
if the animal just about nudges it with its trunk.
So, we move to the adjacent temple pond, which was good because from there we could still
have a good view of the animal, yet be at a safe distance.
We spend some more time watching the animal. It still seems to be looking at us. Time for a close-up of the animal. After all there should be some use for the 15x optical zoom that I paid through my nose for. Looks menacing up-close.
Visit done, we return home and on the way, my SIL points out a 20-metre section of damaged wall of the temple. Result of another elephant gone beserk - no wonder my wife & SIL maintain
a respectable distance from the animal.
Friday, March 13, 2009
What's with bikes and women ?
Against my usual practice of hitting the snooze button, today I woke up when the alarm-clock rang at 6AM in the morning. And this inspite of the fact that I slept late yesterday night since
I had gone out for a couple of drinks with a friend from the neighborhood, whom I had met
after a long time. It was an interesting conversation we had - actually a monologue because he was the one talking and I was just listening. Interesting enough to qualify for a blogpost here. Anyway, that's for later.
Since I woke up early, I did some warm-up exercises followed by some workouts for toning
the abs. Is it just me or do all men get more conscious about their waist as they get older ? Workout done, I hit the bath, get dressed and started for work around 30 mins earlier than
my usual time of 8AM.
Even though summer has started in Chennai, this week was kinda nice weather and today
was no exception. I am feeling good for various reasons - some stuff at work, the morning workout which I think does something to your feel-good hormones, the good weather & the
fact that driving is such a pleasure at this time since the roads are almost empty.
I have covered around 2/3rd of my commute and am waiting at the TIDEL park signal,
waiting for the light to turn green. Suchi, the RJ of Radio-One FM station, is on air and is
talking in her oh-so-cute-n-sexy voice and her voice adds to my happiness. And then I
hear a mild Vrooooom that slowly turns louder.
I look into my rear-view mirror and see a SuperBike (SBK) zoom past me and come to a
stop in the space just before my car. Seated on the pillion is a young girl. I don't know
whether it is the high seating position of the SBK or her way of dressing, but her denim
pants are riding low exposing her innerwear. Like those kids in the US where it seems its
a fashion to wear pants a size or two more than your normal size, just so that the underwear
is visible.
The guy riding the bike must be one lucky bloke. Not only do you have a SBK to have absolute
riding nirvana, but also a pretty girlfriend to share the ride. Must be having a super-rich Dad because the retail price of these bikes can range close to a million rupees in India. Anyway,
he is revving the bike every now and then, which I am guessing is to gain the attention / admiration of those around. After all, what use is a 1-million rupee bike, if you don't get
atleast a few envious or admiring looks ?
Looks like he was getting impatient waiting for the signal to turn green and decides to take
the free left turn instead of going straight and zoooooms off. A few seconds after they left,
the signal turns green and I drive on to work. As I near my office, a bike advt comes up on
the radio. It is for a newly released Suzuki 150cc bike which has a girl seductively saying,
"Drive me crazy".
Huh! Drive her crazy with a puny 150cc bike costing about 60K rupees ? Even if girls get impressed by bikes, I am sure most girls today would not even bother looking at guys riding such a bike. So where is the question of her being driven crazy by it ? Ofcourse if it were a
SBK, that would be something else.
That brings me to the bike I test-rode last weekend. A funky looking Apache 160. Liked the bike, but am keeping my options open till I also test-ride the Yamaha FZ16 also. After the
test-ride, the dealer gave me a brochure of the bike, which had this tagline, "Now women will have to try extra hard to hitch a ride". Try hard for what ? A ride on a 65K 160cc bike ?
Looks like the advertisers have completely lost it.
When I was in college, guys seriously believed that to get a girl, one of the important things
to have was a bike. Ofcourse we don't know what women thought about this. I did not have
a bike when I was dating my first girlfriend. She fell for me inspite of my not having a bike.
Ofcourse it is a different thing that we parted ways (amicably) in just about 6 months because we understood that our idea of life was diametrically opposite - she loved America and wanted
to be there ASAP, I loved India and wanted to be here all my life. For her life was about affluence and material things like big home, big car etc. For me, while money is important to
live, it was not the most important thing.
Anyway, coming back to topic, the best example I know of is a friend from my neighborhood
who was sure that all he needed to get a girl was a nice bike. He saved, scrimped & borrowed money to acquire a Yamaha RX100 (a rage then), but the girl part did not happen. He then decided that it could be because all the girls moved from being bike-crazy to car-crazy. :-)
I had gone out for a couple of drinks with a friend from the neighborhood, whom I had met
after a long time. It was an interesting conversation we had - actually a monologue because he was the one talking and I was just listening. Interesting enough to qualify for a blogpost here. Anyway, that's for later.
Since I woke up early, I did some warm-up exercises followed by some workouts for toning
the abs. Is it just me or do all men get more conscious about their waist as they get older ? Workout done, I hit the bath, get dressed and started for work around 30 mins earlier than
my usual time of 8AM.
Even though summer has started in Chennai, this week was kinda nice weather and today
was no exception. I am feeling good for various reasons - some stuff at work, the morning workout which I think does something to your feel-good hormones, the good weather & the
fact that driving is such a pleasure at this time since the roads are almost empty.
I have covered around 2/3rd of my commute and am waiting at the TIDEL park signal,
waiting for the light to turn green. Suchi, the RJ of Radio-One FM station, is on air and is
talking in her oh-so-cute-n-sexy voice and her voice adds to my happiness. And then I
hear a mild Vrooooom that slowly turns louder.
I look into my rear-view mirror and see a SuperBike (SBK) zoom past me and come to a
stop in the space just before my car. Seated on the pillion is a young girl. I don't know
whether it is the high seating position of the SBK or her way of dressing, but her denim
pants are riding low exposing her innerwear. Like those kids in the US where it seems its
a fashion to wear pants a size or two more than your normal size, just so that the underwear
is visible.
The guy riding the bike must be one lucky bloke. Not only do you have a SBK to have absolute
riding nirvana, but also a pretty girlfriend to share the ride. Must be having a super-rich Dad because the retail price of these bikes can range close to a million rupees in India. Anyway,
he is revving the bike every now and then, which I am guessing is to gain the attention / admiration of those around. After all, what use is a 1-million rupee bike, if you don't get
atleast a few envious or admiring looks ?
Looks like he was getting impatient waiting for the signal to turn green and decides to take
the free left turn instead of going straight and zoooooms off. A few seconds after they left,
the signal turns green and I drive on to work. As I near my office, a bike advt comes up on
the radio. It is for a newly released Suzuki 150cc bike which has a girl seductively saying,
"Drive me crazy".
Huh! Drive her crazy with a puny 150cc bike costing about 60K rupees ? Even if girls get impressed by bikes, I am sure most girls today would not even bother looking at guys riding such a bike. So where is the question of her being driven crazy by it ? Ofcourse if it were a
SBK, that would be something else.
That brings me to the bike I test-rode last weekend. A funky looking Apache 160. Liked the bike, but am keeping my options open till I also test-ride the Yamaha FZ16 also. After the
test-ride, the dealer gave me a brochure of the bike, which had this tagline, "Now women will have to try extra hard to hitch a ride". Try hard for what ? A ride on a 65K 160cc bike ?
Looks like the advertisers have completely lost it.
When I was in college, guys seriously believed that to get a girl, one of the important things
to have was a bike. Ofcourse we don't know what women thought about this. I did not have
a bike when I was dating my first girlfriend. She fell for me inspite of my not having a bike.
Ofcourse it is a different thing that we parted ways (amicably) in just about 6 months because we understood that our idea of life was diametrically opposite - she loved America and wanted
to be there ASAP, I loved India and wanted to be here all my life. For her life was about affluence and material things like big home, big car etc. For me, while money is important to
live, it was not the most important thing.
Anyway, coming back to topic, the best example I know of is a friend from my neighborhood
who was sure that all he needed to get a girl was a nice bike. He saved, scrimped & borrowed money to acquire a Yamaha RX100 (a rage then), but the girl part did not happen. He then decided that it could be because all the girls moved from being bike-crazy to car-crazy. :-)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
I knew this was coming.
I had written here about the big Brangelina family and wondered how Brad & Angelina
managed to remain sane with 6 kids in the house. There are times when our only son
drives us up the wall and when my wife gets angry with him, I make it a point to tell her
why her idea of wanting another kid is not really a brilliant idea since she can't handle
even one without getting angry.
And as if Angie herself read my post on her, comes this latest news which says she is feeling depressed/stressed and needs time out from her 6 children and Brad Pitt. I knew this was
coming. Bringing kids into the world is the simple part. The tough part is taking care of them
and giving them the required time and attention. A kid is a human being that needs not only
food, clothing and shelter, but also looks for love, attention, time and companionship.
Having a brood of kids is not like having a few cars in the garage. With cars, you could just let
them stay in the garage for a long time without giving them any attention. But that is not the
case with kids. They need your attention and time. And just because you have a brood of 6
kids, you don't get any more than the 24 hours in a day that others get. Add to this your role
as an actor and the travel and stuff you need to do for that and it gets tough.
The articles also mentioned another reason for Angie getting depressed. It seems recently
Brad had been going out on too many boy's nights out which was not exactly making Angie
happy. I can understand him going out in his situation. With 6 small kids in the house, any
man would want to get out for a drink or two with friends. But since he is as much a party
to the whole idea of having as many kids as possible, it was not fair on his part to go out with
friends leaving Angie to cope up with the kids.
No wonder Angie is stressed out. I hope she comes out of it soon and is back to taking care of
the kids. And I really, really hope that they stop at the 6 kids they have instead of going about
bringing more kids into the world to whom they cannot give the required attention.
managed to remain sane with 6 kids in the house. There are times when our only son
drives us up the wall and when my wife gets angry with him, I make it a point to tell her
why her idea of wanting another kid is not really a brilliant idea since she can't handle
even one without getting angry.
And as if Angie herself read my post on her, comes this latest news which says she is feeling depressed/stressed and needs time out from her 6 children and Brad Pitt. I knew this was
coming. Bringing kids into the world is the simple part. The tough part is taking care of them
and giving them the required time and attention. A kid is a human being that needs not only
food, clothing and shelter, but also looks for love, attention, time and companionship.
Having a brood of kids is not like having a few cars in the garage. With cars, you could just let
them stay in the garage for a long time without giving them any attention. But that is not the
case with kids. They need your attention and time. And just because you have a brood of 6
kids, you don't get any more than the 24 hours in a day that others get. Add to this your role
as an actor and the travel and stuff you need to do for that and it gets tough.
The articles also mentioned another reason for Angie getting depressed. It seems recently
Brad had been going out on too many boy's nights out which was not exactly making Angie
happy. I can understand him going out in his situation. With 6 small kids in the house, any
man would want to get out for a drink or two with friends. But since he is as much a party
to the whole idea of having as many kids as possible, it was not fair on his part to go out with
friends leaving Angie to cope up with the kids.
No wonder Angie is stressed out. I hope she comes out of it soon and is back to taking care of
the kids. And I really, really hope that they stop at the 6 kids they have instead of going about
bringing more kids into the world to whom they cannot give the required attention.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Changing face of the city. The streets actually.
This happened a couple of days ago. It is 8PM and I am on my way home from work. I am on
the road that runs around the Loyola college campus - the straight section on to which the front gates of the college lead. I am driving slowly as I am trying to extract the maximum FE (Fuel Efficiency) out of my car.
An experiment that I started a couple of months ago and which has been yielding splendid results. From the normal 12kmpl, I have managed to up the FE to 14kmpl, which is not bad
for a 1-ton car with a 1.6l engine having 91 horses under the hood. Ofcourse, it takes lot of
self-restraint to avoid hitting the A-pedal and to putter around town at a very sedate 40-45 kmph.
This particular road has a well designed raised footpath for pedestrians, unlike most of the
other roads in the city. Some 100 metres in front of me, I can see a girl/woman walking along. She is wearing a knee-length tight denim pant and a matching tight top. The dress is a good fit for her slender figure. Since this is near the college campus, it is not an odd sight because there always are good-looking girls in the vicinty of colleges. Only odd thing that registers in my mind is the wee extra bit of sway of the hips. Hmm.
As I pass her, curiousity gets the better of me and my head turns briefly to the left to get a glimpse of her face. Looks pretty too, I say to myself. I notice that she also looks at me, which might be just a coincidence, except for the fact that her gaze lingers on me for more than a cursory glance. Hmm.
I drive on only to be interrupted by my cellphone ringing. Since I don't have the handsfree
with me in the car, I pull over to the side and take the call. It is my younger sister calling up
to talk about her daughter Ann's birthday that is coming up.
As we are talking, the girl has by now walked up to where I am parked. As she nears my car,
she again looks into the car at me and then steps down onto the road from the footpath in front of the car. All this time she is looking at me. I return the look even while talking on the phone. The girl continues walking on the road.
Now this is no cursory look. And however much I love my car, I know that it does not have
the snob value of a Merc for a girl to admire either the car or its owner. I was able to see her
face clearly this time around and she definitely cannot be called a girl. Woman would be more like it. Early thirties, but the face looks kinda aged.
By this time, my mind has completed analysing all the data and arrived at a conclusion. The uninhibited stare is typical of the streetwalkers that have become a common sight in Chennai over the past year or so. Open solicitation on the streets that make you wonder how they can
get away with it inspite of the cops being all over the place. So different from even few years
ago when it would be tough to spot even one streetwalker.
And due to some strange reason, the whole "Nungambakkam High Road - Sterling Road -
Loyola College road" stretch is a favourite with streetwalkers. You can see them standing by
the side of the road and talking on their mobiles, while their eyes are on the lookout for cars
that pass by - prospective customers. Or they would just cross the road to attract attention.
And for the benefit of those that stumble upon them, a small note of warning. Not all these are 'women', if you get my drift. Some of them are transgenders who look exactly like women in looks, body structure etc and getting fooled would be easy.
So, don't say that I did not warn you. That is, unless they are your type. :-)
the road that runs around the Loyola college campus - the straight section on to which the front gates of the college lead. I am driving slowly as I am trying to extract the maximum FE (Fuel Efficiency) out of my car.
An experiment that I started a couple of months ago and which has been yielding splendid results. From the normal 12kmpl, I have managed to up the FE to 14kmpl, which is not bad
for a 1-ton car with a 1.6l engine having 91 horses under the hood. Ofcourse, it takes lot of
self-restraint to avoid hitting the A-pedal and to putter around town at a very sedate 40-45 kmph.
This particular road has a well designed raised footpath for pedestrians, unlike most of the
other roads in the city. Some 100 metres in front of me, I can see a girl/woman walking along. She is wearing a knee-length tight denim pant and a matching tight top. The dress is a good fit for her slender figure. Since this is near the college campus, it is not an odd sight because there always are good-looking girls in the vicinty of colleges. Only odd thing that registers in my mind is the wee extra bit of sway of the hips. Hmm.
As I pass her, curiousity gets the better of me and my head turns briefly to the left to get a glimpse of her face. Looks pretty too, I say to myself. I notice that she also looks at me, which might be just a coincidence, except for the fact that her gaze lingers on me for more than a cursory glance. Hmm.
I drive on only to be interrupted by my cellphone ringing. Since I don't have the handsfree
with me in the car, I pull over to the side and take the call. It is my younger sister calling up
to talk about her daughter Ann's birthday that is coming up.
As we are talking, the girl has by now walked up to where I am parked. As she nears my car,
she again looks into the car at me and then steps down onto the road from the footpath in front of the car. All this time she is looking at me. I return the look even while talking on the phone. The girl continues walking on the road.
Now this is no cursory look. And however much I love my car, I know that it does not have
the snob value of a Merc for a girl to admire either the car or its owner. I was able to see her
face clearly this time around and she definitely cannot be called a girl. Woman would be more like it. Early thirties, but the face looks kinda aged.
By this time, my mind has completed analysing all the data and arrived at a conclusion. The uninhibited stare is typical of the streetwalkers that have become a common sight in Chennai over the past year or so. Open solicitation on the streets that make you wonder how they can
get away with it inspite of the cops being all over the place. So different from even few years
ago when it would be tough to spot even one streetwalker.
And due to some strange reason, the whole "Nungambakkam High Road - Sterling Road -
Loyola College road" stretch is a favourite with streetwalkers. You can see them standing by
the side of the road and talking on their mobiles, while their eyes are on the lookout for cars
that pass by - prospective customers. Or they would just cross the road to attract attention.
And for the benefit of those that stumble upon them, a small note of warning. Not all these are 'women', if you get my drift. Some of them are transgenders who look exactly like women in looks, body structure etc and getting fooled would be easy.
So, don't say that I did not warn you. That is, unless they are your type. :-)
Monday, March 02, 2009
Another year, another Kumbha Bharani at Chettikulangara
In 2007, around this time of the year, I had written a detailed blog-post about the annual
Kumbha Bharani function that happens at the Chettikulangara Devi Kshetram (temple)
near my home in Kerala. The link to that article is
http://indiandream.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
Since every year the rituals are the same, no point in repeating the whole thing. The above
link gives a detailed view into what this is all about. The date for the function is based on the
Malayalam calendar and varies from year to year. This year the function falls on 2-Mar-09
ie. today. Will just repost one of the pictures here.
Kumbha Bharani function that happens at the Chettikulangara Devi Kshetram (temple)
near my home in Kerala. The link to that article is
http://indiandream.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
Since every year the rituals are the same, no point in repeating the whole thing. The above
link gives a detailed view into what this is all about. The date for the function is based on the
Malayalam calendar and varies from year to year. This year the function falls on 2-Mar-09
ie. today. Will just repost one of the pictures here.
Yesterday, when I was at Kerala, they were decorating the deity that belongs to our area,
which is Bheem/Bhim/Bheeman, who is one of the 5 famed Pandava brothers in the Hindu
epic Mahabharata.
In Feb 2008, my son was too small to understand or make any sense of this function. But at
17 months today, he is pretty observant and curious. So, I thought it made sense for me to
take him and give him a dekko at a diety who comes out only once a year for 1 week, of which
6 days are spent in getting him ready, while the actual function is only for 1 day. The rest of
the year, he lies in a small 1-room home located on a plot measuring 2-cents (100 cents make
an acre) that shares its boundary wall with my home.
So, yesterday afternoon I take him to the place where Bhiman is being readied for his big day.
This is like 200 metres from my home and I walk down carrying my son. It is too hot & humid
to make him walk and anyway, he is not old enough to walk that far at one stretch. We see the
experts layering the wooden torso of Bhiman with lots of clothes to give it a human-esque
shape. And ofcourse there are lots of curious bystanders.
From the big fingers of Bhima's hands are hanging whole sheafs of plantains which have been
offered as offerings by devotees. These would be auctioned off after the whole function is
over and the proceeds go to the temple. My son is all eyes as he takes in the spectacle of a
big man sitting on a kind of chariot, with a well made-up face. I take him around so that he
gets a detailed view and then we walk back home.
As I open the gate to our home, I can hear him sleeping - must have got exhausted by the
heat and humidity. I tuck him into bed for his usual afternoon nap.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
What's with these newspaper car advisors ? Goof-up by even 'The Hindu' is shocking!!!
Among the English dailies in India, 'The Hindu' is considered top-notch in terms of quality, content, error-free reporting, lack of bias, newsprint, lack of Page3 content etc. In my
opinion, it is the best English newspaper in India and this is after sampling various dailies available in different parts of India.
So every Wednesday, I do not miss the 'Metro Plus' supplement which has 2 pages dedicated
to cars - new models, vintage and ofcourse the 'Virtual Mechanic' which can be called the print equivalent of www.team-bhp.com's (my favourite car forum) "What car?" section.
Yesterday's 'Virtual Mechanic' had this query by a reader (D. Adarsh) :
Q : Can you tell me about the brands that are likely to be launched within the next year, in
the same segment as the Maruti SX4? What about the VW Jetta? Will it be competitively
priced like the Fabia Diesel? Are there any other VW brands likely to be launched in the
Rs. 6-9 lakh range? Will Honda come up with a diesel version of either the new City or the
Jazz?
And the answer was :
A : The next six months will be quite exciting in terms of launches. The new Toyota Corolla is expected in September 2009 & will be priced between Rs.10-12 lakh & the Fiat Linea
is expected at the same time and will be priced between Rs.7-9 lakh. The VW Jetta is expected in July 2009 and should cost between Rs.13-16 lakh and will come with a petrol
and diesel engine. There is no model from VW expected in the Rs. 6-9 lakh range this year,
but the Polo will come out next year. There are no plans for diesel engines for either the Jazz
or the new City.
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I first checked the date of the newspaper, thinking that maybe I am reading an old paper. But no, it was a supplement dated 18-Feb-09.
The Corolla Altis has been launched only few months ago. So I wondered how a new one is expected just 7 months later. I ignored this bit thinking that the Altis was anyway a minor makeover. So maybe Toyota will bring in a fresh new Corolla, though I don't remember
reading anything about this on tbhp.
But then he goes on to say that the Linea is also expected in Sep 2009. We have reams of
pages on team-bhp detailing Linea test-drives on the forum and people have booked it and
some have even brought it home. And these guys are telling the reader to wait for it.
And then the article says that VW Jetta is expected in July 2009. I had read about the Jetta being already in the market, but since I am not much interested in 10lakh+ cars, I was not
too sure. So checked the VW site online and yes, they have the Jetta on sale.
I just can't believe that 'The Hindu' had this on their pages.
P.S. : Here is the full article.
opinion, it is the best English newspaper in India and this is after sampling various dailies available in different parts of India.
So every Wednesday, I do not miss the 'Metro Plus' supplement which has 2 pages dedicated
to cars - new models, vintage and ofcourse the 'Virtual Mechanic' which can be called the print equivalent of www.team-bhp.com's (my favourite car forum) "What car?" section.
Yesterday's 'Virtual Mechanic' had this query by a reader (D. Adarsh) :
Q : Can you tell me about the brands that are likely to be launched within the next year, in
the same segment as the Maruti SX4? What about the VW Jetta? Will it be competitively
priced like the Fabia Diesel? Are there any other VW brands likely to be launched in the
Rs. 6-9 lakh range? Will Honda come up with a diesel version of either the new City or the
Jazz?
And the answer was :
A : The next six months will be quite exciting in terms of launches. The new Toyota Corolla is expected in September 2009 & will be priced between Rs.10-12 lakh & the Fiat Linea
is expected at the same time and will be priced between Rs.7-9 lakh. The VW Jetta is expected in July 2009 and should cost between Rs.13-16 lakh and will come with a petrol
and diesel engine. There is no model from VW expected in the Rs. 6-9 lakh range this year,
but the Polo will come out next year. There are no plans for diesel engines for either the Jazz
or the new City.
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I first checked the date of the newspaper, thinking that maybe I am reading an old paper. But no, it was a supplement dated 18-Feb-09.
The Corolla Altis has been launched only few months ago. So I wondered how a new one is expected just 7 months later. I ignored this bit thinking that the Altis was anyway a minor makeover. So maybe Toyota will bring in a fresh new Corolla, though I don't remember
reading anything about this on tbhp.
But then he goes on to say that the Linea is also expected in Sep 2009. We have reams of
pages on team-bhp detailing Linea test-drives on the forum and people have booked it and
some have even brought it home. And these guys are telling the reader to wait for it.
And then the article says that VW Jetta is expected in July 2009. I had read about the Jetta being already in the market, but since I am not much interested in 10lakh+ cars, I was not
too sure. So checked the VW site online and yes, they have the Jetta on sale.
I just can't believe that 'The Hindu' had this on their pages.
P.S. : Here is the full article.
Monday, February 09, 2009
While for most, the recession is a nightmare, for a few it is welcome, due to being a leveller.
Almost everyone you meet or talk to is worried about the recession and global slow-down.
Even autorickshaw-drivers cite the slowdown for not reducing fares inspite of the price of
petrol going down by Rs10 per litre. These were the same guys who hiked fares to the sky
when the government hiked petrol prices due to international crude-oil prices hovering in
the 140$ range.
However, there are some who think a recession is actually the best thing that could have happened to India. They see it as a big leveller. These people were horrified by the absurd increase in the cost of living that was a result of the IT boom. They were amazed at the
atrocious prices at which tiny 2-bedroom apartments were being sold in even Tier-2 cities
like Cochin or even in much smaller towns like Kollam.
Initially the slowdown was not impacting Kerala like it affected other parts of India. This
was because the economy of Kerala is not very much dependent on the US or EU. It is highly dependent on the Middle Eastern Arab countries (referred to as the 'Gulf' in local parlance) where most Keralites work.
But the Arab countries began to take a hit when the price of crude oil plummetted to the level
of 30-odd dollars. For the Arabs, the biggest revenue grosser is oil and when its price falls to around 1/5th of what it was few months ago, their spending naturally takes a huge hit. The after-effects of this were seen in salary cuts of immigrant workers, freezing recruitment and even layoffs.
While it is mostly the IT crowd that is the reason for over-the-top spending in the major
Indian cities, in Kerala, it is the Gulf crowd that lead this surge. You can easily make out this crowd from the normal Keralite. Apart from flashy dressing and the ubiquitious gold chain around their neck, what mainly distinguishes them is their "throw money around" attitude.
If you are at a fish market bargaining for a kilo or more of some fish that costs around 300
bucks per kilo, what can easily spoil your party is one of these guys coming over. If they like
the fish, they will buy it without bargaining and paying the asking price. And you will be left standing there wondering why for the fish-vendor, you almost do not seem to exist when a "Gulfie' is around.
Fish is Priority No.1 for almost all Keralites - well it is closely tied with Gold. I say 'almost' because I am not much of a sea-food lover and possibly the only 1 in the family who leans
more towards meat than fish. Even my 16-month old son who is just about learning to speak,
is crazy about fish and there is no way he would eat lunch or dinner without Mi-Mi (his term
for 'Meen" which is what is Mallu-speak for fish).
So, last Sunday when my FIL came in from his morning visit to the fish market, he was not
in a good mood. It seems he had identified a particular fish to buy and while he was bargaining
hard on the price, in walks a 'Gulfie' who pays the asking price and vanishes with what my FIL thought would be on his plate for lunch. :-)
My FIL & MIL are retired government employees living on a fixed monthly pension plus
savings from their lifetime of work. While they do like their fish, they cannot afford to throw around money like either the 'Gulfie' or the 'Techie'. After yet another disappointing encounter with the way these 2 groups of people were contributing to rising prices of fish, this was a brief summary of the conversation at my wife's home :
FIL : I am glad about the whole recession thing. I would say let it continue for some more
time so that these 'Gulfies' & 'Techies' would know how to value money without throwing it
around, not only making life difficult for the common man, but also contributing to an absurd
rise in prices of most food items.
MIL : You might be right, but if the recession continues, many people will lose their jobs not
only in the Middle East, US but also those working in India.
FIL : Who cares ? Let them lose their jobs. Atleast post-recession, they will learn to value
money, to save for a rainy day and to spend wisely.
MIL : Maybe they would. But I still think you should be careful about what you are wishing
for ?
FIL : Why should I be careful ?
MIL : Pretty simple. Because both your sons-in-law are techies. :-)
FIL: !!!
And like everytime, my MIL had the last word.
Even autorickshaw-drivers cite the slowdown for not reducing fares inspite of the price of
petrol going down by Rs10 per litre. These were the same guys who hiked fares to the sky
when the government hiked petrol prices due to international crude-oil prices hovering in
the 140$ range.
However, there are some who think a recession is actually the best thing that could have happened to India. They see it as a big leveller. These people were horrified by the absurd increase in the cost of living that was a result of the IT boom. They were amazed at the
atrocious prices at which tiny 2-bedroom apartments were being sold in even Tier-2 cities
like Cochin or even in much smaller towns like Kollam.
Initially the slowdown was not impacting Kerala like it affected other parts of India. This
was because the economy of Kerala is not very much dependent on the US or EU. It is highly dependent on the Middle Eastern Arab countries (referred to as the 'Gulf' in local parlance) where most Keralites work.
But the Arab countries began to take a hit when the price of crude oil plummetted to the level
of 30-odd dollars. For the Arabs, the biggest revenue grosser is oil and when its price falls to around 1/5th of what it was few months ago, their spending naturally takes a huge hit. The after-effects of this were seen in salary cuts of immigrant workers, freezing recruitment and even layoffs.
While it is mostly the IT crowd that is the reason for over-the-top spending in the major
Indian cities, in Kerala, it is the Gulf crowd that lead this surge. You can easily make out this crowd from the normal Keralite. Apart from flashy dressing and the ubiquitious gold chain around their neck, what mainly distinguishes them is their "throw money around" attitude.
If you are at a fish market bargaining for a kilo or more of some fish that costs around 300
bucks per kilo, what can easily spoil your party is one of these guys coming over. If they like
the fish, they will buy it without bargaining and paying the asking price. And you will be left standing there wondering why for the fish-vendor, you almost do not seem to exist when a "Gulfie' is around.
Fish is Priority No.1 for almost all Keralites - well it is closely tied with Gold. I say 'almost' because I am not much of a sea-food lover and possibly the only 1 in the family who leans
more towards meat than fish. Even my 16-month old son who is just about learning to speak,
is crazy about fish and there is no way he would eat lunch or dinner without Mi-Mi (his term
for 'Meen" which is what is Mallu-speak for fish).
So, last Sunday when my FIL came in from his morning visit to the fish market, he was not
in a good mood. It seems he had identified a particular fish to buy and while he was bargaining
hard on the price, in walks a 'Gulfie' who pays the asking price and vanishes with what my FIL thought would be on his plate for lunch. :-)
My FIL & MIL are retired government employees living on a fixed monthly pension plus
savings from their lifetime of work. While they do like their fish, they cannot afford to throw around money like either the 'Gulfie' or the 'Techie'. After yet another disappointing encounter with the way these 2 groups of people were contributing to rising prices of fish, this was a brief summary of the conversation at my wife's home :
FIL : I am glad about the whole recession thing. I would say let it continue for some more
time so that these 'Gulfies' & 'Techies' would know how to value money without throwing it
around, not only making life difficult for the common man, but also contributing to an absurd
rise in prices of most food items.
MIL : You might be right, but if the recession continues, many people will lose their jobs not
only in the Middle East, US but also those working in India.
FIL : Who cares ? Let them lose their jobs. Atleast post-recession, they will learn to value
money, to save for a rainy day and to spend wisely.
MIL : Maybe they would. But I still think you should be careful about what you are wishing
for ?
FIL : Why should I be careful ?
MIL : Pretty simple. Because both your sons-in-law are techies. :-)
FIL: !!!
And like everytime, my MIL had the last word.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
How can adults behave like total assholes ? Have they lost it ?
I am sorry about the title of this post, but what I read in the newspapers yesterday has left
me so angry that I cannot help it. Yesterday's Deccan Chronicle had this photo in it. I could
not believe my eyes or actually take in the fact that some people can stoop so low & behave
like animals.
A 6-year old kid was thrashed by a couple of cops in UttarPradesh (a state in India), which is referred to as the cow-belt of India. Literacy rates are abysmally low there which would obviously reflect in the way people behave. But still ? How can someone kick around a small
kid, a girl at that ?
Quoting from the news report,
"Six-year-old Komal was brutally thrashed by the police at the Etawah police station on
Monday evening. The police pulled up the Dalit girl by her hair, twisted her ears, slapped
her repeatedly and kicked her around. The girl screamed with pain and sobbed that she
was innocent but the cops continued to laugh and subjected the girl to intense physical
torture even as local TV channels recorded the event. "
All this because she was suspected to have stolen Rs280 (less than 6$). Even assuming
she stole the money, is this how you treat a kid ? I wonder whether these idiots don't
have any kids of their own. If it was their kid, would they have behaved in the same way ?
Heck, even if it is someone else's kid, would you kick a kid or slap her ?
The cops have been suspended, which is no consolation. I just hope someone thrashes their backside and kicks their sorry heads like a football. That should make them understand.
me so angry that I cannot help it. Yesterday's Deccan Chronicle had this photo in it. I could
not believe my eyes or actually take in the fact that some people can stoop so low & behave
like animals.
A 6-year old kid was thrashed by a couple of cops in UttarPradesh (a state in India), which is referred to as the cow-belt of India. Literacy rates are abysmally low there which would obviously reflect in the way people behave. But still ? How can someone kick around a small
kid, a girl at that ?
Quoting from the news report,
"Six-year-old Komal was brutally thrashed by the police at the Etawah police station on
Monday evening. The police pulled up the Dalit girl by her hair, twisted her ears, slapped
her repeatedly and kicked her around. The girl screamed with pain and sobbed that she
was innocent but the cops continued to laugh and subjected the girl to intense physical
torture even as local TV channels recorded the event. "
All this because she was suspected to have stolen Rs280 (less than 6$). Even assuming
she stole the money, is this how you treat a kid ? I wonder whether these idiots don't
have any kids of their own. If it was their kid, would they have behaved in the same way ?
Heck, even if it is someone else's kid, would you kick a kid or slap her ?
The cops have been suspended, which is no consolation. I just hope someone thrashes their backside and kicks their sorry heads like a football. That should make them understand.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Many Happy returns of the day, Divya.
My favourite niece is 10 years old today. As I think back to 4th Feb, 1999, I can still vividly
recollect the small baby that I held in my arms, who is now a young girl. It was her arrival
that made me an uncle for the first time and she was such a trouble-free baby in the first
few years of her life. I don't think I can say that about my other nephew Dan or niece Ann
or even about my son.
Talking about my son, yesterday I was thinking that I should have named him 'Calvin' given
his antics that seem to have a connection with the Calvin of "Calvin & Hobbes" cartoon fame.
Or even 'Dennis" from the "Dennis the Menace" series. :-)
Divya, like any other kid, is changing by the day, becoming more mature. More so, after her
baby brother was born a year ago. On earlier birthdays, she would be so excited about the
whole birthday party thing and about the presents she would like to get. But this time, all
she was bothered about was throwing a grand party on her brother Dan's birthday.
I called to wish her on her birthday and asked what present she would like me to get her.
To my surprise she did not have anything in mind and said, "Let me ask Mummy", to which
I replied that, "The present is for you, not for your Mummy. So you tell me what you want".
When she still could not come up with anything, I told her to think and let me know.
It is so surprising how kids change over time. In the past, Divya could never be found tongue-
tied when asked what she wanted. On each of my visits abroad on work, she had a list ready
of things she wanted me to get her from there. But now, she is not sure any more.
Have a great day, Divya. Love you lots.
recollect the small baby that I held in my arms, who is now a young girl. It was her arrival
that made me an uncle for the first time and she was such a trouble-free baby in the first
few years of her life. I don't think I can say that about my other nephew Dan or niece Ann
or even about my son.
Talking about my son, yesterday I was thinking that I should have named him 'Calvin' given
his antics that seem to have a connection with the Calvin of "Calvin & Hobbes" cartoon fame.
Or even 'Dennis" from the "Dennis the Menace" series. :-)
Divya, like any other kid, is changing by the day, becoming more mature. More so, after her
baby brother was born a year ago. On earlier birthdays, she would be so excited about the
whole birthday party thing and about the presents she would like to get. But this time, all
she was bothered about was throwing a grand party on her brother Dan's birthday.
I called to wish her on her birthday and asked what present she would like me to get her.
To my surprise she did not have anything in mind and said, "Let me ask Mummy", to which
I replied that, "The present is for you, not for your Mummy. So you tell me what you want".
When she still could not come up with anything, I told her to think and let me know.
It is so surprising how kids change over time. In the past, Divya could never be found tongue-
tied when asked what she wanted. On each of my visits abroad on work, she had a list ready
of things she wanted me to get her from there. But now, she is not sure any more.
Have a great day, Divya. Love you lots.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
All in the family. Oh yes, one very large family.
This picture titled "All in the family" came in day-before-yesterday's Deccan Chronicle which attracted my immediate attention because of, what else, but gorgeous Angelina. Oh, I did see Brad also in the pic, but what about him ?
The next thing about the pic was their brood of kids - 6 in total of which 3 are adopted and
3 are their biological offspring. And from what I hear, both of them have still not have had
enough of kids and plan to add to their family by either adopting more kids or having more
of their own or a combo of both.
I grew up with 2 siblings and when my parents were planning their family, the population
though a minor issue was not as much a serious problem as it is now, when we seem to be
breeding like rabbits. Actually, we seem to have left the rabbits far behind in the race.
At that time, the government's exhortation to the citizens was "We two; Ours two".
Ofcourse most parents of that time conveniently ignored this advice, including mine.
Actually some parents for eg, my BIL's parents, just laughed at the whole two-two idea as
they went about bringing 10 kids into the world. Oh yeah, 10 kids was more an exception
rather than the rule then. But still, imagine being one of 10 kids in a family. Hey, you are
just short of 1 kid to make a cricket or football team. :-)
As the population explosion became more of a serious issue, the Indian government made
a small change to their slogan, which they thought would automatically reduce the birth
rate by half. The new slogan now is "We are one; Ours is one". Pardon the grammatical
errors in the slogan, because if the point gets through, it is a job well done.
Parents today seem to be very careful about the number of kids they have - no broods of
10 for them. But still, they do not really swear by the government's idea of limiting the
number of kids to just one. Most have atleast 2 kids, while there still are those that go for
the magic number of 3.
There are also lots of couples who restrict themselves to just 1 kid, but that I think is more
to do with the escalating cost of education in India. The other day a friend was telling about
another friend who shelled out Rs.100,000 + change for each of their 2 kids for getting
them admitted to a decent school. And guess what, these kids are in kindergarten. My
4 years of Engineering cost just half of what they paid for 1 kid - all expenses included.
Go figure ...
Anyway, coming back to Jolie and Brad, the main thought that hit me (ie. after I got over
gorgeous Angie) when I saw the snap was, "How the hell do they manage to remain sane
after travelling with 6 kids?". Me and my wife do quite some travel with our son and even
with just 1 kid, sometimes it gets a little too much. At the most, I might be able to handle
another kid, but that's about it.
Just having to baby-sit 6 kids would be a nightmare for me. Let alone having to travel
with six of them. You sure have to hand it Angelina and Brad - they are tough nuts.
P.S.: As if this isn't bad enough, a lady gave birth to octuplets few days ago in the US.
Imagine bringing up 8 kids of the same age !!!
The next thing about the pic was their brood of kids - 6 in total of which 3 are adopted and
3 are their biological offspring. And from what I hear, both of them have still not have had
enough of kids and plan to add to their family by either adopting more kids or having more
of their own or a combo of both.
I grew up with 2 siblings and when my parents were planning their family, the population
though a minor issue was not as much a serious problem as it is now, when we seem to be
breeding like rabbits. Actually, we seem to have left the rabbits far behind in the race.
At that time, the government's exhortation to the citizens was "We two; Ours two".
Ofcourse most parents of that time conveniently ignored this advice, including mine.
Actually some parents for eg, my BIL's parents, just laughed at the whole two-two idea as
they went about bringing 10 kids into the world. Oh yeah, 10 kids was more an exception
rather than the rule then. But still, imagine being one of 10 kids in a family. Hey, you are
just short of 1 kid to make a cricket or football team. :-)
As the population explosion became more of a serious issue, the Indian government made
a small change to their slogan, which they thought would automatically reduce the birth
rate by half. The new slogan now is "We are one; Ours is one". Pardon the grammatical
errors in the slogan, because if the point gets through, it is a job well done.
Parents today seem to be very careful about the number of kids they have - no broods of
10 for them. But still, they do not really swear by the government's idea of limiting the
number of kids to just one. Most have atleast 2 kids, while there still are those that go for
the magic number of 3.
There are also lots of couples who restrict themselves to just 1 kid, but that I think is more
to do with the escalating cost of education in India. The other day a friend was telling about
another friend who shelled out Rs.100,000 + change for each of their 2 kids for getting
them admitted to a decent school. And guess what, these kids are in kindergarten. My
4 years of Engineering cost just half of what they paid for 1 kid - all expenses included.
Go figure ...
Anyway, coming back to Jolie and Brad, the main thought that hit me (ie. after I got over
gorgeous Angie) when I saw the snap was, "How the hell do they manage to remain sane
after travelling with 6 kids?". Me and my wife do quite some travel with our son and even
with just 1 kid, sometimes it gets a little too much. At the most, I might be able to handle
another kid, but that's about it.
Just having to baby-sit 6 kids would be a nightmare for me. Let alone having to travel
with six of them. You sure have to hand it Angelina and Brad - they are tough nuts.
P.S.: As if this isn't bad enough, a lady gave birth to octuplets few days ago in the US.
Imagine bringing up 8 kids of the same age !!!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The prodigal son returns home.
It takes you by surprise when real life plays out like a story that was told 2000 years ago,
which is what happened to us last week. There is a parable in the Bible about the "Prodigal
son" - a story told by Jesus to his followers, to stress on the importance of acknowledging
one's fault and repenting for it.
The story tells about a man who has 2 sons. While the elder son is obedient to the father
and does his bidding, the younger one leaves home after taking his share of the property.
He squanders all the money, becomes penniless & then takes up the lowly job of a swineherd
to keep body and soul together. And it is then that he thinks of how life was at his father's
home, where even the servants led a better life than he was now leading.
He decides to go back to his father's home and reckons that even if his father disowns him
(for which no one can fault him), he can take a job there as a servant, which would be much better than his current life. But he is taken by surprise at his father's reaction on seeing him back. His father is overjoyed and kills the fattest calf to celebrate his return.
The elder son returns from the fields and hears the celebration and enquires with a servant
who tells that their father is celebrating the return of his younger brother. Naturally this does not go down well with the elder brother who doesn't understand why his father should do this
for a faithless son, and asks his father.
"Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you
never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened
calf for him!"
To which the father replies,
"My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate &
be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."
- Luke 15:11-32
Something on the lines of the above parable happened in our family last week. My cousin San returned home on 16-Jan-09 after 11 long years. He had left home 11 years ago (at the age of
18 years) due to some disagreement with his parents and all this time no one had any idea of where he was. Search teams were sent to various states of India, but without any success.
The last such mission was to Bombay few months ago, when someone there mentioned that
he has seen a person resembling San, but this turned out to be a false call.
His parents spent the last decade & more shedding tears for a son whose whereabouts were
not known. Not to mention the ridicule of friends/relatives, some of whom even had the gall
to tell them to their face that their son might not be even alive. Ofcourse they never lost hope and were sure that he would return one day. Which is what happened.
11 years is a long time to be away from your near and dear ones. Even while he has been the cause of so much anguish to his parents and sister, I am sure they would welcome him back
with happiness. For as was said, "He was dead and is alive again: he was lost and is found".
I am glad for his parents. Every time I met them (especially his mother), I could see the grief
in their eyes, though this did not prevent them from sharing in the joys of others (especially
our family with whom they were very close). I am glad San is back and hope he stays put &
does not attempt any more of such antics.
which is what happened to us last week. There is a parable in the Bible about the "Prodigal
son" - a story told by Jesus to his followers, to stress on the importance of acknowledging
one's fault and repenting for it.
The story tells about a man who has 2 sons. While the elder son is obedient to the father
and does his bidding, the younger one leaves home after taking his share of the property.
He squanders all the money, becomes penniless & then takes up the lowly job of a swineherd
to keep body and soul together. And it is then that he thinks of how life was at his father's
home, where even the servants led a better life than he was now leading.
He decides to go back to his father's home and reckons that even if his father disowns him
(for which no one can fault him), he can take a job there as a servant, which would be much better than his current life. But he is taken by surprise at his father's reaction on seeing him back. His father is overjoyed and kills the fattest calf to celebrate his return.
The elder son returns from the fields and hears the celebration and enquires with a servant
who tells that their father is celebrating the return of his younger brother. Naturally this does not go down well with the elder brother who doesn't understand why his father should do this
for a faithless son, and asks his father.
"Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you
never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened
calf for him!"
To which the father replies,
"My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate &
be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."
- Luke 15:11-32
Something on the lines of the above parable happened in our family last week. My cousin San returned home on 16-Jan-09 after 11 long years. He had left home 11 years ago (at the age of
18 years) due to some disagreement with his parents and all this time no one had any idea of where he was. Search teams were sent to various states of India, but without any success.
The last such mission was to Bombay few months ago, when someone there mentioned that
he has seen a person resembling San, but this turned out to be a false call.
His parents spent the last decade & more shedding tears for a son whose whereabouts were
not known. Not to mention the ridicule of friends/relatives, some of whom even had the gall
to tell them to their face that their son might not be even alive. Ofcourse they never lost hope and were sure that he would return one day. Which is what happened.
11 years is a long time to be away from your near and dear ones. Even while he has been the cause of so much anguish to his parents and sister, I am sure they would welcome him back
with happiness. For as was said, "He was dead and is alive again: he was lost and is found".
I am glad for his parents. Every time I met them (especially his mother), I could see the grief
in their eyes, though this did not prevent them from sharing in the joys of others (especially
our family with whom they were very close). I am glad San is back and hope he stays put &
does not attempt any more of such antics.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A nice business idea and model that deserves encouragement.
Some of you might have noticed the "Zoomin" widget on the left side of this blog's homepage. While Google Adsense did have my attention and brief interest, I avoided having their advertisements on my blog because I felt that the look of the blog would suffer. I visited
some other blogs that had ads on them and did not like the look of it. So, atleast for now, no Adsense for my blog.
Then why promote Zoomin on my blog ? One reason is that the widget is small and does not interfere with the overall look-and-feel of my blog. But the main reason was I was pretty impressed with their business-model and customer service. So much that I no longer get my photos printed at the neighborhood photo studio, but trust Zoomin to print and deliver them
to me.
It all started some months ago with an email I received from a travel website to which I was subscribed. It mentioned about Zoomin, their services and that for the first order I would get
30 prints for free. Even though a little apprehensive initially, I try it out and was very satisfied with the print quality, the delivery schedule etc.
And guess what, their prices are pretty competitive too. They charge just Rs.4 per maxi print, while your neighborhood shop would charge anything between Rs.5-6. Also, delivery charge
is just a flat Rs.25, irrespective of the order quantity.
Like they say, a happy customer not only returns to you again, but also brings you more customers. So I used the "Refer a friend" option on their website to refer this service to my friends, some of whom used it for their photo printing needs. For each friend who placed an order, they gave me 5 free print credits to be used on my future orders.
Earlier, when I needed to print some snaps, I had to copy them to a pen-drive, stop at the Konica shop on my way to work, place an order for prints and on my return home, I would
again stop there to collect the prints. Now, all I do is login to my zoomin a/c, upload the snaps
that are to be printed, specify the number of prints, size etc and pay by my credit-card. In a
couple of days the prints are delivered home.
Over time they expanded their product portfolio to include mugs/T-shirts that can be printed with a photo of our choice. As the holiday season came up, their latest product was calendars
(3 types) which could be customised with our photos. This really interested me and at Rs.125
per poster calendar (12" by 18"), it looked like a good present to give my nieces/nephews apart from having one with my son's best snaps.
Placed an order for 4 calendars which should be arriving today or so. And that is when I saw they had an option for users to put up a Zoomin widget on their websites. Which is how the Zoomin advt came to be on this blog.
The only time this service won't work for you is when you are in a hurry and want the prints
in an hour or so, which you can get done at the nearest Konica. But since these guys have to
ship from Bombay, it would take atleast 2 days before the prints reach you. But since these
guys are pretty innovative, I am sure they must be looking at this too. Maybe soon they will have franchises in all main cities, to whom the orders from those cities would be routed,
thereby making delivery possible the same day or earlier.
If you are like the average digicam owner who has thousands of snaps on his PC which were
never printed and need to print the best of them, and are lazy to haul yourself to the nearest
studio, Zoomin is a good option. Ofcourse I am sure there are others also offering similar
services - like for instance Snapfish from HP. Go for whichever suits your needs.
And what do I get for this free advertisement that I do for Zoomin ? For every person that follows this link to Zoomin and makes a purchase, I get 5 free print credits. But more than
the free credits, I feel that if there is someone providing a good service, the word needs to
be spread. Hence this bit of service via my blog.
some other blogs that had ads on them and did not like the look of it. So, atleast for now, no Adsense for my blog.
Then why promote Zoomin on my blog ? One reason is that the widget is small and does not interfere with the overall look-and-feel of my blog. But the main reason was I was pretty impressed with their business-model and customer service. So much that I no longer get my photos printed at the neighborhood photo studio, but trust Zoomin to print and deliver them
to me.
It all started some months ago with an email I received from a travel website to which I was subscribed. It mentioned about Zoomin, their services and that for the first order I would get
30 prints for free. Even though a little apprehensive initially, I try it out and was very satisfied with the print quality, the delivery schedule etc.
And guess what, their prices are pretty competitive too. They charge just Rs.4 per maxi print, while your neighborhood shop would charge anything between Rs.5-6. Also, delivery charge
is just a flat Rs.25, irrespective of the order quantity.
Like they say, a happy customer not only returns to you again, but also brings you more customers. So I used the "Refer a friend" option on their website to refer this service to my friends, some of whom used it for their photo printing needs. For each friend who placed an order, they gave me 5 free print credits to be used on my future orders.
Earlier, when I needed to print some snaps, I had to copy them to a pen-drive, stop at the Konica shop on my way to work, place an order for prints and on my return home, I would
again stop there to collect the prints. Now, all I do is login to my zoomin a/c, upload the snaps
that are to be printed, specify the number of prints, size etc and pay by my credit-card. In a
couple of days the prints are delivered home.
Over time they expanded their product portfolio to include mugs/T-shirts that can be printed with a photo of our choice. As the holiday season came up, their latest product was calendars
(3 types) which could be customised with our photos. This really interested me and at Rs.125
per poster calendar (12" by 18"), it looked like a good present to give my nieces/nephews apart from having one with my son's best snaps.
Placed an order for 4 calendars which should be arriving today or so. And that is when I saw they had an option for users to put up a Zoomin widget on their websites. Which is how the Zoomin advt came to be on this blog.
The only time this service won't work for you is when you are in a hurry and want the prints
in an hour or so, which you can get done at the nearest Konica. But since these guys have to
ship from Bombay, it would take atleast 2 days before the prints reach you. But since these
guys are pretty innovative, I am sure they must be looking at this too. Maybe soon they will have franchises in all main cities, to whom the orders from those cities would be routed,
thereby making delivery possible the same day or earlier.
If you are like the average digicam owner who has thousands of snaps on his PC which were
never printed and need to print the best of them, and are lazy to haul yourself to the nearest
studio, Zoomin is a good option. Ofcourse I am sure there are others also offering similar
services - like for instance Snapfish from HP. Go for whichever suits your needs.
And what do I get for this free advertisement that I do for Zoomin ? For every person that follows this link to Zoomin and makes a purchase, I get 5 free print credits. But more than
the free credits, I feel that if there is someone providing a good service, the word needs to
be spread. Hence this bit of service via my blog.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Mall crawling in Chennai.
Last weekend I was at Chennai and decided to do some mall crawling. Well, I would not have
done it if I had a choice, but I had some Gift Vouchers that I got by redeeming my Amex
reward points and I needed to use them before they expired.
So, Saturday noon post-lunch I am off to the Lifestyle store at Alwarpet. My wife had been
eye-ing a 2-tier steel-wire fruit basket, which she had seen at a friend's home and who had bought it from Lifestyle. Well, it turned out that they no longer had it in stock, so I just
browsed the whole store for anything else interesting. Naah.
Moved to the City Centre Mall nearby, which has a bigger version of Lifestyle inside it.
Again no luck with the fruit basket, but found some interesting stuff in the kids toy section.
Bought a toy-cellphone for my son (the Chinese one that I mentioned in an earlier post did
not last long, given my son's habit of hurling toys at the wall). A bit costly at 500 bucks,
especially in these times of recession, but still would be cheaper than replacing my wife's
cellphone which would otherwise end up damaged, since it is currently my son's favourite toy.
I am now more into toys that do not require batteries, but there are not too many of them.
Finally chanced upon a 'Thomas' toy train, which requires no batteries - all it needs for it to
move is a push down on the train driver's head. Also, found another dumpster truck that rumbles when you pull on the boulder loaded on it. Again no batteries to worry about. But,
I had run out of Lifestyle vouchers and so decided to pick these up at Shoppers Stop, since
I guessed that the toys available at most stores must be more or less similar.
Ride down to Shoppers Stop, but they are out of Thomas trains. Hmm. Luckily they do have
the rumbling truck, which I pick up for my son. I also find another train with its set of tracks,
a tunnel, tree etc, which I pick up for my nephew Dan whose first birthday is on17th Jan.
I pay for these and am ready to leave when I see a Ferrari F1 replica R/C car (1:28) in the
usual Ferrari red color, with a remote controller that can be worn around your wrist like a
watch. It comes in its custom box, with a platform to lock the car's wheels when not being
used. I fall for it hook, line & sinker, with the only deterrent being the price of Rs.1500.
I spend close to an hour thinking whether I should go for it or not.
I can't use my son as an excuse to buy it because he is too young to appreciate it. I would not
be surprised if he just picks it up and hurls it at the wall. I call my wife for her counsel and as
usual her advice is, "If you like it, buy it. Don't bother about the price. You can use it for the
time-being and when our son is a few years older, you can give it to him".
Boosted by this encouragement, I pick it up and walk to the cash-counter. There is one guy
in line before me whose checkout seems to be taking unusually long. While in line, I remove
the car from the box to have a closer look. As I admire the sleek looks of the car, I can sense
another pair of eyes observing me. I turn to my side to see a young boy with all admiration
in his eyes for the car - I can understand his feelings.
I put the car back in the box and still the guy in front has not finished his checkout. Am now getting a bit impatient now. It is close to 7PM now and I have been out shopping for like 5
hours now !!! I leave the counter, place the car back on the shelf and walk out. Maybe it was
not destined to be mine, yet. But I won't be surprised if I walk in some other day and buy it.
P.S. : In the home-stuff section of Shopper's Stop which is on the 3rd level, just adjacent
their bookshop (Crossword), I found them selling the cute small candles in the little round containers which another friend of mine was searching for. Since she drops in here at this
blog occasionally, this hint is for her.
done it if I had a choice, but I had some Gift Vouchers that I got by redeeming my Amex
reward points and I needed to use them before they expired.
So, Saturday noon post-lunch I am off to the Lifestyle store at Alwarpet. My wife had been
eye-ing a 2-tier steel-wire fruit basket, which she had seen at a friend's home and who had bought it from Lifestyle. Well, it turned out that they no longer had it in stock, so I just
browsed the whole store for anything else interesting. Naah.
Moved to the City Centre Mall nearby, which has a bigger version of Lifestyle inside it.
Again no luck with the fruit basket, but found some interesting stuff in the kids toy section.
Bought a toy-cellphone for my son (the Chinese one that I mentioned in an earlier post did
not last long, given my son's habit of hurling toys at the wall). A bit costly at 500 bucks,
especially in these times of recession, but still would be cheaper than replacing my wife's
cellphone which would otherwise end up damaged, since it is currently my son's favourite toy.
I am now more into toys that do not require batteries, but there are not too many of them.
Finally chanced upon a 'Thomas' toy train, which requires no batteries - all it needs for it to
move is a push down on the train driver's head. Also, found another dumpster truck that rumbles when you pull on the boulder loaded on it. Again no batteries to worry about. But,
I had run out of Lifestyle vouchers and so decided to pick these up at Shoppers Stop, since
I guessed that the toys available at most stores must be more or less similar.
Ride down to Shoppers Stop, but they are out of Thomas trains. Hmm. Luckily they do have
the rumbling truck, which I pick up for my son. I also find another train with its set of tracks,
a tunnel, tree etc, which I pick up for my nephew Dan whose first birthday is on17th Jan.
I pay for these and am ready to leave when I see a Ferrari F1 replica R/C car (1:28) in the
usual Ferrari red color, with a remote controller that can be worn around your wrist like a
watch. It comes in its custom box, with a platform to lock the car's wheels when not being
used. I fall for it hook, line & sinker, with the only deterrent being the price of Rs.1500.
I spend close to an hour thinking whether I should go for it or not.
I can't use my son as an excuse to buy it because he is too young to appreciate it. I would not
be surprised if he just picks it up and hurls it at the wall. I call my wife for her counsel and as
usual her advice is, "If you like it, buy it. Don't bother about the price. You can use it for the
time-being and when our son is a few years older, you can give it to him".
Boosted by this encouragement, I pick it up and walk to the cash-counter. There is one guy
in line before me whose checkout seems to be taking unusually long. While in line, I remove
the car from the box to have a closer look. As I admire the sleek looks of the car, I can sense
another pair of eyes observing me. I turn to my side to see a young boy with all admiration
in his eyes for the car - I can understand his feelings.
I put the car back in the box and still the guy in front has not finished his checkout. Am now getting a bit impatient now. It is close to 7PM now and I have been out shopping for like 5
hours now !!! I leave the counter, place the car back on the shelf and walk out. Maybe it was
not destined to be mine, yet. But I won't be surprised if I walk in some other day and buy it.
P.S. : In the home-stuff section of Shopper's Stop which is on the 3rd level, just adjacent
their bookshop (Crossword), I found them selling the cute small candles in the little round containers which another friend of mine was searching for. Since she drops in here at this
blog occasionally, this hint is for her.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
The Belgian who made India (Chennai) his home.
Many a time I had thought of doing a post on my friend Peter, but then decided against it because of privacy concerns. Not that he would be concerned, but just that the open nature
of the internet could be much more than what we could ever fathom.
Anyway, now that he has become something of a minor celebrity here after being featured
in "The Hindu" (inarguably one of the best English newspapers in India), I guess I can work
on some posts on him.
But for now, I would just be content sharing with you what 'The Hindu" has to say about him. The article can be found here. But experience tells me that links usually change, get removed
and so on, which means in the future it might be difficult to look up the article. So, just to be
on the safer side, I quote the whole article below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article & photo courtesy : The Hindu, dated 3-Jan-2009.
GOING NATIVE
Heart and home in Chennai
The city feeds Belgian Peter Van Geit’s passion for beaches, blue skies and tourist spots.
FASCINATION FOR ALL THINGS INDIAN Peter Van Geit
Peter Van Geit likes beaches and blue skies. But, in Belgium, the sky is persistently grey.
The European country is partly bounded by the North Sea, but sunbathing on its 60-km
long beach is possible only for three weeks. The rest of the year, temper atures are down
to zero or sub-zero. “As summer is incredibly short in their country, many Belgians vacation
in southern Europe,” says Geit.
Unlike his countrymen, Geit has found a way to escape Belgium’s dingy climate forever.
He lives under clear blue skies since 1997, when he migrated to Chennai. As IT resources
were scarce on both sides of the Atlantic, multinational company Barco (‘Scientific Atlanta’
now) looked at India to set up operations involving creation of digital cable TV applications.
Chennai & Bangalore were hot contenders. Looking back, Geit is glad Chennai won the race. Living in the city feeds his addiction to the beach. Six years ago, he built a beautiful house,
just walking distance from the Palavakkam shoreline. There is a lot in this beach house to suggest that this Belgian is completely hooked to India. Plain white Indian marble overlaid
in parts with designs that are clearly Indian. The wall betrays his interest in paintings with Indian themes and the fact that he has found love in India — Geit’s girlfriend Kamala is from Andhra Pradesh.
Kamala, the beach, blue skies, plenty of tourist places to go to, and Indians’ helpfulness are
what’s keeping Geit in India. The year after he landed in Chennai, Geit bought a 500cc 1998
Bullet, which he used mercilessly to get a first-hand experience of the Indian countryside and scenic locales. He would put the bike on a train to Delhi and then go a-riding to places such
as Leh and Kardungla. He has done the same in South India. There are few touristy parts of Kerala he has not visited. “India has a fascinating range of geographical features. In contrast, Belgium is a flat country. There are no hills. To vacation, you have to wait for a short summer.”
As Geit undertook these biking tours all alone, he only had unfamiliar natives to help him out
of messy situations. When his 500cc bike broke down in Thrissur, a local family took him in.
As the necessary spare part was not available in the town, a young member of the family was sent to Coimbatore to buy it. “Indians seldom turn away a foreigner in need.” In comparison, Belgians are usually closed to foreigners. “Following a few immigrant-related crimes, Belgians are wary of people from other lands.”
Less of a lone ranger now, Geit tours with groups. This change happened in 2004, when he founded ‘Chennai Trekkers’. At first patronised by his colleagues at Scientific Atlanta, it has grown into a 1,600 group that organises a trek a week. The treks now and the bike rides
earlier have helped him understand his adopted homeland so well that he has lost the sense
of being an expatriate.
PRINCE FREDERICK
of the internet could be much more than what we could ever fathom.
Anyway, now that he has become something of a minor celebrity here after being featured
in "The Hindu" (inarguably one of the best English newspapers in India), I guess I can work
on some posts on him.
But for now, I would just be content sharing with you what 'The Hindu" has to say about him. The article can be found here. But experience tells me that links usually change, get removed
and so on, which means in the future it might be difficult to look up the article. So, just to be
on the safer side, I quote the whole article below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article & photo courtesy : The Hindu, dated 3-Jan-2009.
GOING NATIVE
Heart and home in Chennai
The city feeds Belgian Peter Van Geit’s passion for beaches, blue skies and tourist spots.
FASCINATION FOR ALL THINGS INDIAN Peter Van Geit
Peter Van Geit likes beaches and blue skies. But, in Belgium, the sky is persistently grey.
The European country is partly bounded by the North Sea, but sunbathing on its 60-km
long beach is possible only for three weeks. The rest of the year, temper atures are down
to zero or sub-zero. “As summer is incredibly short in their country, many Belgians vacation
in southern Europe,” says Geit.
Unlike his countrymen, Geit has found a way to escape Belgium’s dingy climate forever.
He lives under clear blue skies since 1997, when he migrated to Chennai. As IT resources
were scarce on both sides of the Atlantic, multinational company Barco (‘Scientific Atlanta’
now) looked at India to set up operations involving creation of digital cable TV applications.
Chennai & Bangalore were hot contenders. Looking back, Geit is glad Chennai won the race. Living in the city feeds his addiction to the beach. Six years ago, he built a beautiful house,
just walking distance from the Palavakkam shoreline. There is a lot in this beach house to suggest that this Belgian is completely hooked to India. Plain white Indian marble overlaid
in parts with designs that are clearly Indian. The wall betrays his interest in paintings with Indian themes and the fact that he has found love in India — Geit’s girlfriend Kamala is from Andhra Pradesh.
Kamala, the beach, blue skies, plenty of tourist places to go to, and Indians’ helpfulness are
what’s keeping Geit in India. The year after he landed in Chennai, Geit bought a 500cc 1998
Bullet, which he used mercilessly to get a first-hand experience of the Indian countryside and scenic locales. He would put the bike on a train to Delhi and then go a-riding to places such
as Leh and Kardungla. He has done the same in South India. There are few touristy parts of Kerala he has not visited. “India has a fascinating range of geographical features. In contrast, Belgium is a flat country. There are no hills. To vacation, you have to wait for a short summer.”
As Geit undertook these biking tours all alone, he only had unfamiliar natives to help him out
of messy situations. When his 500cc bike broke down in Thrissur, a local family took him in.
As the necessary spare part was not available in the town, a young member of the family was sent to Coimbatore to buy it. “Indians seldom turn away a foreigner in need.” In comparison, Belgians are usually closed to foreigners. “Following a few immigrant-related crimes, Belgians are wary of people from other lands.”
Less of a lone ranger now, Geit tours with groups. This change happened in 2004, when he founded ‘Chennai Trekkers’. At first patronised by his colleagues at Scientific Atlanta, it has grown into a 1,600 group that organises a trek a week. The treks now and the bike rides
earlier have helped him understand his adopted homeland so well that he has lost the sense
of being an expatriate.
PRINCE FREDERICK
Snuffing out lives even before they start living.
As long as something is not directly affecting us, it just remains a news article for us.
Like the Israeli assault on the Gaza strip that has been going on for a week or more now.
With the tacit support of a country (the US of A for the ignorant) that claims to be the
upholder of democracy and all such good things in the world.
I am not saying even for a moment that the Hamas and other Palestinian groups are not
to blame for the developments. Both Israel and these groups have a role in this conflict
that has been going on for years, claiming innumerable lives on both sides. Ofcourse, with
Israel being powerful and also having the support of the US, casualties on their side are
much lesser.
Yesterday's newspaper (The Hindu) had this photograph in their 'International' section.
Photo courtesy : The Hindu dated 6-Jan-2009.
Three cute kids, who could as well have been photographed sleeping, if not for the telltale
evidence provided by the bandages and other hospital stuff in the picture. Three civilian
lives (minors at that) snuffed out for no fault of theirs. Heck they would not even know
anything about the conflict and why they had been targetted.
We have the United Nations which is supposed to intervene in such situations, but then all
it takes to stop them in their tracks is a veto by any of the 5 big boys in the Security Council.
And when it is Israel in the picture, we know that the US will use its veto to stop any action
against their ally. It don't matter whether Israel is pounding the whole place with shells,
killing more civilians than the Hamas terrorists that they are actually targetting.
When will this ever end ?
Like the Israeli assault on the Gaza strip that has been going on for a week or more now.
With the tacit support of a country (the US of A for the ignorant) that claims to be the
upholder of democracy and all such good things in the world.
I am not saying even for a moment that the Hamas and other Palestinian groups are not
to blame for the developments. Both Israel and these groups have a role in this conflict
that has been going on for years, claiming innumerable lives on both sides. Ofcourse, with
Israel being powerful and also having the support of the US, casualties on their side are
much lesser.
Yesterday's newspaper (The Hindu) had this photograph in their 'International' section.
Photo courtesy : The Hindu dated 6-Jan-2009.
Three cute kids, who could as well have been photographed sleeping, if not for the telltale
evidence provided by the bandages and other hospital stuff in the picture. Three civilian
lives (minors at that) snuffed out for no fault of theirs. Heck they would not even know
anything about the conflict and why they had been targetted.
We have the United Nations which is supposed to intervene in such situations, but then all
it takes to stop them in their tracks is a veto by any of the 5 big boys in the Security Council.
And when it is Israel in the picture, we know that the US will use its veto to stop any action
against their ally. It don't matter whether Israel is pounding the whole place with shells,
killing more civilians than the Hamas terrorists that they are actually targetting.
When will this ever end ?
Monday, January 05, 2009
The recession makes for good small talk.
5-Jan-2009 - 7AM :
Am on the train to Chennai after my long vacation and in 2.5 hours the train should be at
Chennai Central. It was quite cold at night (by Indian standards ie.) and I am still lazing under
the covers, when I hear a guy nearby talking over the cellphone. He makes a series of calls,
discusses the price of something, places orders etc, effortlessly switching between English,
Hindi & Tamil. I can't make out what commodity he is trading in though.
I sneak out of the covers and see a man in his late-forties being the owner of the voice
mentioned above. He is returning from a trip to the Sabarimala shrine of the Hindu deity
Ayyappa. He continues his business calls while I walk to the restroom to freshen up.
When I return, the rest of the passengers in the coupe are also up and about. Apart from
our man, we have a group of 5 youngsters (mid-twenties), all from Kerala and who look
like the typical IT sector employees working in Chennai.
Having finished his business calls, our man is still in the mood for conversation and looks
out at the group of youngsters sitting near him and targets the guy sitting exactly opposite
him.
Our man : You are working or studying ?
IT guy : Working at Chennai.
From the way he replied, he made it clear that he is not in the mood for conversation, but
our man is least deterred.
Our man : Which organisation do you work for ?
IT guy : CTS. (Cognizant Tech Solutions).
I can make out a a hint of pride in the way he replied. Especially because our man looked
very ordinary and seemingly very far from the tech domain the youngster belongs to.
Which is mainly because Ayyappa devotees are not supposed to remove any facial hair for
the 41-day period preceding their visit to the temple - overgrown hair, moustache & beard
can give a dishevelled look. They also should not wear any footwear and their attire is a
simple black sarong or trousers.
Our man : Oh, CTS. My sister's son works there too.
IT guy : Just nods his head. (Oh, so you know about CTS).
Our man : Is it true that you guys have had to take a drastic salary cut due to the recession?
The whole group freezes on hearing this and the IT guy somehow mumbles an almost
inaudible "No, nothing like that", which did not sound very convincing to our man.
Our man : Is that so ? I keep reading about pay-cuts and even worse stuff. Especially in
the US, where I hear about people abandoning homes and living inside their cars.
The IT guys are silent, not knowing how to respond to this.
Obviously with the constant media bombardment we all face today via newspapers/TV/net,
access to information is available to everyone. No wonder, the main topic I hear today being
discussed everywhere is the global slowdown, loss of jobs in IT/manufacturing etc.
Am on the train to Chennai after my long vacation and in 2.5 hours the train should be at
Chennai Central. It was quite cold at night (by Indian standards ie.) and I am still lazing under
the covers, when I hear a guy nearby talking over the cellphone. He makes a series of calls,
discusses the price of something, places orders etc, effortlessly switching between English,
Hindi & Tamil. I can't make out what commodity he is trading in though.
I sneak out of the covers and see a man in his late-forties being the owner of the voice
mentioned above. He is returning from a trip to the Sabarimala shrine of the Hindu deity
Ayyappa. He continues his business calls while I walk to the restroom to freshen up.
When I return, the rest of the passengers in the coupe are also up and about. Apart from
our man, we have a group of 5 youngsters (mid-twenties), all from Kerala and who look
like the typical IT sector employees working in Chennai.
Having finished his business calls, our man is still in the mood for conversation and looks
out at the group of youngsters sitting near him and targets the guy sitting exactly opposite
him.
Our man : You are working or studying ?
IT guy : Working at Chennai.
From the way he replied, he made it clear that he is not in the mood for conversation, but
our man is least deterred.
Our man : Which organisation do you work for ?
IT guy : CTS. (Cognizant Tech Solutions).
I can make out a a hint of pride in the way he replied. Especially because our man looked
very ordinary and seemingly very far from the tech domain the youngster belongs to.
Which is mainly because Ayyappa devotees are not supposed to remove any facial hair for
the 41-day period preceding their visit to the temple - overgrown hair, moustache & beard
can give a dishevelled look. They also should not wear any footwear and their attire is a
simple black sarong or trousers.
Our man : Oh, CTS. My sister's son works there too.
IT guy : Just nods his head. (Oh, so you know about CTS).
Our man : Is it true that you guys have had to take a drastic salary cut due to the recession?
The whole group freezes on hearing this and the IT guy somehow mumbles an almost
inaudible "No, nothing like that", which did not sound very convincing to our man.
Our man : Is that so ? I keep reading about pay-cuts and even worse stuff. Especially in
the US, where I hear about people abandoning homes and living inside their cars.
The IT guys are silent, not knowing how to respond to this.
Obviously with the constant media bombardment we all face today via newspapers/TV/net,
access to information is available to everyone. No wonder, the main topic I hear today being
discussed everywhere is the global slowdown, loss of jobs in IT/manufacturing etc.
Whoa !!! Long time, no post.
It is 12 days since my last post on 23-Dec of last year. And to think that I have been on
vacation from 24-Dec till yesterday (4-Jan-09) doing pretty much nothing and thus should
have had the time and material for many posts.
Well, for one, my son was glued to me all these 12 days. He just ignored his Mom (usually his
first priority) and everyone else and was following me like a shadow, calling out "Papa papa"
in his cute kiddish voice. While I enjoyed each and every moment of it, it also meant that the
only time I could do something was when he was asleep. And getting online turned out to be
the last priority thing.
Both my sisters came home for X'mas with their kids and with 4 kids in the house, it was a
riot. Also meant many trips to the river nearby to give Divya and Ann some swimming
lessons. They are doing pretty good now, but I guess by the next time they come over,
they might have lost touch and would need to start all over again.
Also went for a long pending 5-day Ayurveda massage session - 1 hour daily, which seems
to have made my aching back a lot better, apart from an giving an overall rejuvenation.
Plus meeting old friends who had come down from various parts of the globe on vacation,
visiting friends and relations, driving around etc.
A nice vacation, though it's a pity that it had to end so soon.
vacation from 24-Dec till yesterday (4-Jan-09) doing pretty much nothing and thus should
have had the time and material for many posts.
Well, for one, my son was glued to me all these 12 days. He just ignored his Mom (usually his
first priority) and everyone else and was following me like a shadow, calling out "Papa papa"
in his cute kiddish voice. While I enjoyed each and every moment of it, it also meant that the
only time I could do something was when he was asleep. And getting online turned out to be
the last priority thing.
Both my sisters came home for X'mas with their kids and with 4 kids in the house, it was a
riot. Also meant many trips to the river nearby to give Divya and Ann some swimming
lessons. They are doing pretty good now, but I guess by the next time they come over,
they might have lost touch and would need to start all over again.
Also went for a long pending 5-day Ayurveda massage session - 1 hour daily, which seems
to have made my aching back a lot better, apart from an giving an overall rejuvenation.
Plus meeting old friends who had come down from various parts of the globe on vacation,
visiting friends and relations, driving around etc.
A nice vacation, though it's a pity that it had to end so soon.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A year gone by. Still your memory lives on.
Today it is 1 year since you left this world, leaving a void in the lives of all those that were
lucky to know you either in person or online. Your memory lives on in our minds.
lucky to know you either in person or online. Your memory lives on in our minds.
Miss you Robin (RTech).
Monday, December 22, 2008
Some more details on the MAD contest.
Googled a bit for details on the MAD contest which Divya won and came across a page on the
online edition of The Hindu newspaper.
With all due credit to The Hindu and its Staff Reporter (the author of this piece), I give below
the article in full. The article can also be accessed online at this linky.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Children get to meet their TV icon
- Staff Reporter
— Photo: Thulasi Kakkat
YOUNG AT HEART: Rob, host of Pogo’s Music and Dance show, in Kochi on Saturday.
KOCHI: Few people have the knack of coercing hyperactive kids into silence. Out in Kochi
on Saturday, Rob – the popular host of Pogo channel’s award-winning show Music, Art and Dance (MAD), threatened to sing when the decibel level of kids who had crowded around
him became too much.
He reminded them of how bad he was at singing and lo, there seemed to be a semblance of
order at the venue. All through the event, the corner of the room was abuzz with the chirpy sound of the kids. A sizeable crowd comprising kids and parents gathered at the interaction
Rob had with kids at the Reliance Trends showroom in Oberon Mall here.
They crowded to catch a close glimpse of their TV icon. The kids brought along paintings,
origami craft work (there was even a frog made of paper) and other curios that they had
done at home. Rob took a look at them and appreciated their skill. He promised to sign autographs after the event drew to a close.
This was under the Design the MAD Way Contest, wherein the kids collected scraps and
props that littered their home or school and used ingenious ways to create curios.
Earlier, the suspense whether Rob would in fact come grew intense as he failed to turn up
even 15 minutes after the scheduled time. The kids then began shouting out ‘Rooobbb, we
want Rob…’ and in a couple of minutes he appeared, wearing a pure-white cap & eye-catching attire. Having viewed his regular TV shows, the kids were quite at ease when asked how to paint, make crafts from paper, and also sculptures from plaster of paris. Their parents too were quite enthused on seeing their kids’ icon cheer the kids up.
The programme MAD has won many awards for being a popular show for kids.
online edition of The Hindu newspaper.
With all due credit to The Hindu and its Staff Reporter (the author of this piece), I give below
the article in full. The article can also be accessed online at this linky.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Children get to meet their TV icon
- Staff Reporter
— Photo: Thulasi Kakkat
YOUNG AT HEART: Rob, host of Pogo’s Music and Dance show, in Kochi on Saturday.
KOCHI: Few people have the knack of coercing hyperactive kids into silence. Out in Kochi
on Saturday, Rob – the popular host of Pogo channel’s award-winning show Music, Art and Dance (MAD), threatened to sing when the decibel level of kids who had crowded around
him became too much.
He reminded them of how bad he was at singing and lo, there seemed to be a semblance of
order at the venue. All through the event, the corner of the room was abuzz with the chirpy sound of the kids. A sizeable crowd comprising kids and parents gathered at the interaction
Rob had with kids at the Reliance Trends showroom in Oberon Mall here.
They crowded to catch a close glimpse of their TV icon. The kids brought along paintings,
origami craft work (there was even a frog made of paper) and other curios that they had
done at home. Rob took a look at them and appreciated their skill. He promised to sign autographs after the event drew to a close.
This was under the Design the MAD Way Contest, wherein the kids collected scraps and
props that littered their home or school and used ingenious ways to create curios.
Earlier, the suspense whether Rob would in fact come grew intense as he failed to turn up
even 15 minutes after the scheduled time. The kids then began shouting out ‘Rooobbb, we
want Rob…’ and in a couple of minutes he appeared, wearing a pure-white cap & eye-catching attire. Having viewed his regular TV shows, the kids were quite at ease when asked how to paint, make crafts from paper, and also sculptures from plaster of paris. Their parents too were quite enthused on seeing their kids’ icon cheer the kids up.
The programme MAD has won many awards for being a popular show for kids.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Congratulations Divya - on winning the "Design the MAD way" contest.
Apparently, there is a show called MAD (Music, Art and Dance) on Pogo channel (kids would
know about this kiddy channel) and the guy (Rob) that hosts it was at Cochin yesterday for a promotional event.
The event was at the Oberon, the newest mall in Cochin & Reliance Trends was sponsoring
this event, where you could meet Rob and even participate in a design contest, with prizes
for the kids that have the best 6 entries. If you had done a purchase worth Rs2o00 at the
mall, they would give you the coupon making you eligible for the event.
My sister's neighbour had a coupon for the event and thus Divya participated in the event,
she being a regular Pogo watcher, like most kids. And you know what, her entry won the
First prize which included among other things a MAD set, something which she had always
wanted to have.
I am sure Divya would have had trouble sleeping yesterday night, what with getting to see
Bob, winning the 1st prize and to top it, she is on TV (Amrita news channel, JaiHind channel)
and in the newspapers (The Indian Express). Now, that surely is something.
BTW, her entry was a vegetable man - created from various vegetables. Seems like Bob was
pretty impressed with her creation. She has snaps of the same - will update this post with
the snaps later.
Way to go, girl. I am really proud of you.
know about this kiddy channel) and the guy (Rob) that hosts it was at Cochin yesterday for a promotional event.
The event was at the Oberon, the newest mall in Cochin & Reliance Trends was sponsoring
this event, where you could meet Rob and even participate in a design contest, with prizes
for the kids that have the best 6 entries. If you had done a purchase worth Rs2o00 at the
mall, they would give you the coupon making you eligible for the event.
My sister's neighbour had a coupon for the event and thus Divya participated in the event,
she being a regular Pogo watcher, like most kids. And you know what, her entry won the
First prize which included among other things a MAD set, something which she had always
wanted to have.
I am sure Divya would have had trouble sleeping yesterday night, what with getting to see
Bob, winning the 1st prize and to top it, she is on TV (Amrita news channel, JaiHind channel)
and in the newspapers (The Indian Express). Now, that surely is something.
BTW, her entry was a vegetable man - created from various vegetables. Seems like Bob was
pretty impressed with her creation. She has snaps of the same - will update this post with
the snaps later.
Way to go, girl. I am really proud of you.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
How about leading by example, Chief Minister ?
The other day I came across an article in the newspaper about the CM of Tamilnadu
getting all sad & pained about how today most Tamil parents were not giving their kids
Tamil names.
I am neither for or against naming kinds the Tamil way or Kerala way or whatever. I would think that it should be the prerogative of the parents to decide the names of their kids, with
the only caveat being that it should not be something really dumb or something that will
make them the butt of jokes all through their lives.
For example, the previous weekend I was looking up my name on the railway chart and
came across someone named 'Alpha'. If this person had siblings, I am sure they would
have been named Beta, Gamma and so on...
But the first thought that came to mind on reading the CM's exhortation was how could he
ask people to do something which he himself did not do ? I mean, one of his sons is named
Stalin, which is not even an Indian name, forget being a Tamil name.
I think politicians just can't help shooting their mouth off.
getting all sad & pained about how today most Tamil parents were not giving their kids
Tamil names.
I am neither for or against naming kinds the Tamil way or Kerala way or whatever. I would think that it should be the prerogative of the parents to decide the names of their kids, with
the only caveat being that it should not be something really dumb or something that will
make them the butt of jokes all through their lives.
For example, the previous weekend I was looking up my name on the railway chart and
came across someone named 'Alpha'. If this person had siblings, I am sure they would
have been named Beta, Gamma and so on...
But the first thought that came to mind on reading the CM's exhortation was how could he
ask people to do something which he himself did not do ? I mean, one of his sons is named
Stalin, which is not even an Indian name, forget being a Tamil name.
I think politicians just can't help shooting their mouth off.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
When a private walk in the park gets to the public domain.
It's a nice Saturday morning and you decide to hit the nearby park for a walk with your
family, to spend some time in the midst of nature. Unknown to you, there is a newspaper
photo-journalist in the vicinity who thinks your family walk in the park makes a good
picture to go with his article about the parks in the city.
Thus you end up in the pages of the newspaper and since you don't subscribe to the said newspaper you are not even aware of you and your family gracing the pages of the daily.
Till, your kid is asked about it by her friend's parent. Kind of what happened in the case
of my friend.
This picture came in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper (Chennai edition) of 23-Nov-2008.
The guy in the pic is a colleague and friend for more than a decade. A few of my friends who
visit this blog would also be able to recognise him, having worked with him. He had gone to
the Theosophical society campus in Chennai for a walk one weekend with his family when
they were snapped by a journo and ended up in the newspaper.
He was pretty excited about being featured in the newspaper, but could not get his hands
on a copy of the paper, since he did not subscribe to it. While I usually buy the DC, I did not
have this particular day's paper. Anyway, with the internet around, why would sourcing the paper be difficult ? Went to their online site and got the picture from their archives and sent
it to him.
What was that old quote again about every person in the world getting his / her 15 minutes
of fame ?
family, to spend some time in the midst of nature. Unknown to you, there is a newspaper
photo-journalist in the vicinity who thinks your family walk in the park makes a good
picture to go with his article about the parks in the city.
Thus you end up in the pages of the newspaper and since you don't subscribe to the said newspaper you are not even aware of you and your family gracing the pages of the daily.
Till, your kid is asked about it by her friend's parent. Kind of what happened in the case
of my friend.
This picture came in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper (Chennai edition) of 23-Nov-2008.
The guy in the pic is a colleague and friend for more than a decade. A few of my friends who
visit this blog would also be able to recognise him, having worked with him. He had gone to
the Theosophical society campus in Chennai for a walk one weekend with his family when
they were snapped by a journo and ended up in the newspaper.
He was pretty excited about being featured in the newspaper, but could not get his hands
on a copy of the paper, since he did not subscribe to it. While I usually buy the DC, I did not
have this particular day's paper. Anyway, with the internet around, why would sourcing the paper be difficult ? Went to their online site and got the picture from their archives and sent
it to him.
What was that old quote again about every person in the world getting his / her 15 minutes
of fame ?
The image that stays on long after the guns fell silent.
It is close to 2 weeks now since the audacious terrorist attack at Mumbai (previously known
as Bombay). Many innocent lives were lost in the attack, leaving many families in mourning.
And I am not talking about the 9 terrorists who died. They anyway had come prepared to die. And they deserved to die.
For the life of me, I have never understood what these guys gain by killing innocent people.
How does it further their cause ? Does it not actually make people stand up against them and
the cause they espouse ?
One of the images that will remain in my memory for a long time to come is the picture of
little Moshe crying. His Jewish parents were killed in the attack and being a parent myself,
it feels so heart-rending every time I am reminded of the innocent kid who lost his parents
for no fault of his.
I see the crying kid and it reminds me of my son. Even imagining how my son would feel in similar circumstances is painful for me. My heart goes out to the kid and I hope he is not in
any way scarred by the violence he saw at so young an age.
I hope and pray that he has caring relatives to bring him up well, in the absence of his parents.
May God bless him.
as Bombay). Many innocent lives were lost in the attack, leaving many families in mourning.
And I am not talking about the 9 terrorists who died. They anyway had come prepared to die. And they deserved to die.
For the life of me, I have never understood what these guys gain by killing innocent people.
How does it further their cause ? Does it not actually make people stand up against them and
the cause they espouse ?
One of the images that will remain in my memory for a long time to come is the picture of
little Moshe crying. His Jewish parents were killed in the attack and being a parent myself,
it feels so heart-rending every time I am reminded of the innocent kid who lost his parents
for no fault of his.
I see the crying kid and it reminds me of my son. Even imagining how my son would feel in similar circumstances is painful for me. My heart goes out to the kid and I hope he is not in
any way scarred by the violence he saw at so young an age.
I hope and pray that he has caring relatives to bring him up well, in the absence of his parents.
May God bless him.
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