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Read
in The Hindu few days back about an exhibition with display of British era items
in Lalit Kala Academy, Greams Road Chennai – this place is near the Greams Road-Pantheon
Road traffic signal, few hundred metres away from Apollo Hospital. The exhibition
(free entry) which runs till tomorrow (August 30) features a collection of what the
British have left behind – furniture, personalities and their ideas. The items in
display are from private collection of Steve Borgia (chairman and managing director
of INDeco Hotels). Today I took my son in the morning and we spent a good part
of a hour looking at the various items on display. The organizers have done a fine
job of neatly categorizing items, clear sign boards for every item, provided handy
cards which explained the items and had many volunteers who were happy to explain
the significance of the items on display.
The exhibition had quite a collection of interesting items – Twin blade fan (first
in this part of the world), first metal lunch box, a old coin-based shooting game
for kids, picnic set, camera, printing press and more. See the entire
photo album here that I took today. Some of the items (like the Fridge which runs
on Kerosene oil) I had seen earlier in their Swamimalai
resort during my vacation there few years back.
While seeing the display, I was called to talk in Tamil for 30-seconds about the exhibition
by Big FM Radio, which I did. Overall, an interesting
hour spent, please take your kids to it.
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While doing my morning walking today (after a long time) in my neighbourhood, I saw
these Public Safety Message boards kept by Chennai City Police at various places.
These are aimed to educate people with simple lines along with an image on importance
of common safety messages. A good initiative by the police and we should congratulate
the sponsors who helped for this campaign.
(Click the above image for the entire album in full resolution)
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The famous low price shopping destination in Chennai - Saravana Stores in Ranganathan
Street (T.Nagar) unfortunately has got
into flames from early morning today. From my house which is 1 or 2 kilometres
from the site, standing on our water tank in 2nd floor we could clearly see the massive
fumes. It is unfortunate that 20 of their employees who went in to control flames
are yet to come out and are expected to be in danger - our prayers for their safe
exit. About 5 to 6 fire engines from nearby and several of the firemen are fighting
to control the flames.
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ஓவியர் மதி அவர்களின் “அடடே”
புத்தக வெளியிடு நேற்று மிக பிராமாண்டமாக “Music
Academy"யில் நடைப்பெற்றது. இந்தப் புத்தகத்தை வெளியிடுபவரான எனது நண்பர் திரு.பத்ரி
சேஷாத்ரி அவர்களின் அழைப்பில் விழாவிற்கு சென்றிருந்தேன். இப்படி ஒரு பெரிய விழாவைத்
திட்டமிடுவது, இவ்வளவு எண்ணிக்கையில் இத்தனை சிறந்த முக்கியஸ்தர்களை சம்மதிக்க செய்து
அழைப்பது, கடைசியாக அரங்கம் நிறையக் கூட்டத்தை வரவழைப்பது என்பது மிக மிக கடினம். எங்களது
புத்தக (லிப்கோ)
நிறுவனத்தில் எனது தந்தையின் இது போன்ற உழைப்பை நேரில் பார்த்தால் எனக்கு இந்த சிரமம்
நன்றாகத் தெரியும். இவ்வளவு பாடுப்பட்டு மிக சிறப்பாக செய்ததற்கு எனது நண்பர் திரு.பத்ரி
சேஷாத்ரி நிச்சயம் சந்தோஷப் படலாம்.
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It has been more than 2 decades since I have been to a Stadium to watch a cricket
match live, the last time was during my School Days that too only once and I remember
it vaguely . So yesterday when I went to MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk, Chennai)
with my son to see the match it was pure fun. I didn't want to go through the parking
hassles so I left my car in a relatives house in Royappetah and went to the stadium
in an Autorickshaw - a wise decision that helped us to reach to our seats by start
of the match at 8PM. The atmosphere was dynamic with popular Tamil film songs playing
for every 6 runs, 4 runs and during breaks. The stadium was packed with people everywhere
- all were enjoying themselves, cheering the entertainment below by waiving, dancing,
playing music & whistling. We got good seats in Gate 13 (T-3) area which was right
in front of the pitch and with an excellent view.
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The match was
played between the home team "Chennai
Super Kings" (owned by India Cements & captained by M.S.Dhoni) and "Mumbai
Indians" (owned by Reliance Industries and captained by Harbhajan Singh in
absence of Sachin Tendulkar). My home team "Chennai Super Kings" won
the match by 6 runs which was largely helped by the superb batting performance earlier
by the pair of ML
Hayden (Australia) and Suresh
Raina (UP, India). Captain Dhoni came in during last few overs but entertained
the crowd with his few hits to boundaries.
Everything was great during the match, except for the main scoreboard being updated
poorly and for the hot Chennai summer weather. After few overs of second innings it
was getting late and becoming unbearably hot, so we had our dinner in the MCC club
below and returned home to watch the remaining overs in the comfort of Air Conditioning
in our house :-) . Will I do it again, certainly "Yes" for another IPL/T-20
match but next time not during the summer.
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Today
Tamilnadu CM was inaugurating at 5PM the Phase 1 of the mega bridge in Chennai Katipara
junction on the way to Chennai Airport.
I went to Bangalore for a Morning-Evening trip today by flight and landed in Chennai
around 6:30PM. My father gave me an idea to avoid the traffic jam at Katipara due
to the event on my way from Airport to my house in West Mambalam - it was to take
the local electric train. I did just that just, walked across the road from Airport
to Tirusulam Station (I didn't know the under-pass was already opened today) bought
a ticket for Rs.4 (unbelievable) and got down in West Mambalam. Took an Auto from
there to my house paying Rs.25. The whole trip from Airport to my house took less
than 25 minutes and I saved myself the hassle of waiting in Traffic Jams. The last
time I travelled in Chennai electric train (though I more frequently travelled by
train than now during my school/college days) was few weeks back when I came back
from Bangalore by train, landed in Chennai Central and then taking the electric train
from Park station to Mambalam.
These two trips set me thinking into the usefulness of several new bridges coming
in Chennai including the recently opened Kodambakkam/Mahalingapuram bridge.
I am seeing the fact that over bridges don't help much other than employment to hundreds
of bridge workers in short term - they simply move the traffic bottleneck from place
to another. It is an established finding now around the world that the real solution
is to build more of mass transport systems including Trains in more routes, Buses
and to educate people on the advantages of using them. The next step will be to make
it convenient for people to convert to these public transport by providing Air Conditioned
Trains, Buses & Terminals, easy access to the terminals including underpasses
& escalators, common smart card based ticketing systems for an integrated system
(bus, train, metro) in the city. If you are not convinced travel to Singapore (or)
London and use their public transport for few days.
Hope our policy makers are thinking on the same lines.
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I have travelled in Chennai ECR road several times, but not even once I have stopped
to go inside the Crocodile Park which is there. Today being a Sunday I was thinking
of a place to take my son out and came up with this place. Though I have seen Crocodile
parks in many zoos around the world, my only recollection of seeing them in Chennai
are in my school days at Guindy National Park. So it was exciting for me as well to
see them in Chennai :-)
Madras Crocodile Bank (as it is called) is located 40 km from Chennai city (or 10
Km from Mamallapuram) along east coast road with the Bay of Bengal as a backdrop.
We started off from my home around 3:30PM, reached 15 minutes to 5:00PM. The park
is open till 6PM, so we spend nearly an hour going around the park. I was expecting
a small collection of Crocs, but was surprised to find they have hundreds of them
and of many species. The place is also quite spread out and neatly maintained. The
Entry fee for Indians - Adults (Rs.30), Children (Rs.20), Still Camera (Rs.20). The
place is worth going with your kids.
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Dakshina Chitra
Last year or so, again one of the Sundays I went with my family to Dakshina
Chitra. This is also in ECR Road about 21Km from Chennai. This is a cultural village
that have replicas of South Indian Houses, heritage items, etc. replicating the cultural
settings. All 4 southern states have presence here. I found it to be interesting for
the first visit. If you want to learn about South India this is a must see place.
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Few weeks back I got a phone call in my office number from some holiday club in Anna
Nagar claiming that I have won for a free couple pass for holiday in their resorts.
I was surprised for one that I am normally never lucky to win anything in a lottery
and second I didn't remember entering any draw. On being asked the lady said that
the draw was done on purchases made in shops (Nalli, Pothy's, Saravana Stores) in
T.Nagar during the holiday season. I started to get suspicious (which I often do get)
because I had not shopped in the mentioned shops recently, so I said I will send a
messenger with my signed authorization so that they can handover the prize. The lady
refused and insisted that I come in person with my wife to collect it. I said I will
and disconnected the call, didn't think it was worthwhile to go all the way and that
was it.
Yesterday in Suriyan FM Radio, the DJ announced that a recent con plot going around
the city was doing exactly this. They call people to say they have won prizes, when
they visit to collect it, brainwash them to buy useless items (or) strong-arm to make
them part with their jewels and valuables. So Chennai residents be warned don't get
fooled by the lure of prizes for competitions you never participated.
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இன்றைய தினத்தை மத ஒற்றுமை நாள் என சொல்ல வேண்டும் போலிருக்கிறது. இன்று அனேக மதத்தினரின்
பண்டிகைக்கள் நடைப்பெறுகிறது - இஸ்லாமிய மிலாடி நபி, கிறுஸ்துவ புனித வெள்ளி, இந்துக்களின்
பங்குனி உத்திரம், வட இந்தியர்களின் ஹோலி. உலக ஒற்றுமைக்காக நாம் அனைவரும் பிராத்தனை
செய்ய இதுவே சிறந்த நாள் போல்.
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Yahoo! seems to be working overtime to complete as much as they can before the (almost)
inevitable takeover from Microsoft. This week they released the first meaningful (and
hence useful) map service for India. Earlier none of the three (Google, Microsoft,
Yahoo!) had any useful data on India for maps. I read in blogosphere that Google was
active in data collection by sponsoring with mapping instruments and paying volunteers
for plotting Indian cities. That's about it. Now Yahoo!
Maps for India seems to have beaten the other two by significant points. Go check
it out.
 
I was impressed by Yahoo! maps features like Auto Fare, Walk the Route and above all
"Vernacular" languages. I got a beautiful and correct directions in "Tamil"
from our Habibullah Road office to Lakshmi Colony office in Chennai.
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Y.Gee.Mahendra's UAA has released a new tamil play (drama) called "சுதேசி ஐயர்" (Sudeshi
Iyer). The first show happened yesterday in Bharat Kalachar and today there was shows
in Rani Seethai Hall. Seeing the banner near Duraiswamy subway yesterday, I went for
the third show of the play today with my family. It was advertised as "சிரிப்போ சிரிப்பு,
புதுமையோ புதுமை”, but my expectation was limited due to previous experiences with
plays.
Fortunately, it turned out to be true, the play was certainly hilarious and enjoyable. Worth
seeing. The story was not much, a 70 year old Swadeshi type Father wants
to teach his family the illness of deteriorating value system in the materialistic
world now. He takes them in a time machine to 1945 and the family gets to experience
the world and value system in 1945, gets to see Mahatma Gandhi and they realize their
mistakes. All this is told in a very hilarious and filled with jokes. My 4-1/2 year
old son and my 75 year dad both enjoyed the play, that I guess speaks for wide audience
satisfied by the play.
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Does a city need so many FM Radio Stations all playing the same music?. In Chennai
there are currently 8
major FM Stations:
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All Indian Radio Rainbow
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Suryan FM (Sun TV Group)
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Radio Mirchi (Times
Group)
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Big FM (ADAG
Group)
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Aahaa FM (Kumudam Group)
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Radio One (Mid-Day)
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Hello FM (Malaimalar Group)
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Radio City
The license issued by government prohibits them (other than AIR) from broadcasting
NEWS, but that doesn't mean they can't play different music. All the above 8 channels
(again exception being AIR) play only latest Tamil Film Albums. Each of them have
few slots for other types of music but even that is miniscule compared to their overall
Tamil Film programming.
Though I don't listen to Hindi or Telugu film music, I am wondering who will cater
to those diaspora living in Chennai or for that matter Tamilians who are interested
in Hindi Music. All the channels are same, with similar sounding RJs blabbering, SMS
Polls, talk shows, etc. in between the same music collections. Why is there no niche
stations playing different genre of music - say one for old Tamil songs, Carnatic
Music, Western classical, Hindustani, Hindi Film Music and the likes.
If you have an idea why this is not happening, I am interested in reading your comments.
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I
finally finished reading the book "It
happened in India", the reason I am saying finally is because that I have been
reading this book for nearly 2 months but managed to complete the last 30 pages only
today. The book is kind of an auto-biography of Mr.Kishore Biyani on the story of
Pantaloons, Biz Bazaar & Central retail stores.Let me say at the beginning, I
am a little biased in favour of Indian success stories - apart from being an Indian,
the reason is because I feel there is a dearth of good books on Indian business stories.
The first thing that you notice when you pick the book is a close resemblance of the
title It happened in India with Made in America (Sam
Walton's classic book). When you start reading you will continue
to see the unmistakable resemblance in the presentation format as well. The chapters
are presented in a fashion of first person voice intertwined with quotes from various
stake holders (business partners, employees & friends of the author). While reading
the first few chapters this resemblance put me off a little as I thought Kishore Biyani
had nothing original to say. Only after I finished nearly half of the book I realized
how mistaken I was, the chapters starting to get interesting and the experiences outlined
are very much India specific and original. Definitely Kishore Biyani and his team
have to be congratulated on their exciting journey in the world of Indian retail and
for brining many of the now common innovations. I was happy to read in pages 116-199,
Kishore Biyani quoting Chennai's own Saravana Stores as the inspiration
behind their Big Bazaar venture. He writes on how his team camped in Chennai visiting
Saravan Stores every day for weeks in understanding their merchandise mix and pricing.
The book tapers off towards the end where the author starts talking about his personal
philosophies & beliefs on business.
Overall, a good book to read at an attractive price of Rs.99 (~USD 2.5)
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I have been a member of an organization called INFITT from
its inception around 2000. INFITT (International Forum for Information Technology
in Tamil) a global, non-governmental, non-profit organization registered in California,
USA. In Tamil known as "உத்தமம்" (உலகத் தகவல் தொழில்நுட்ப மன்றம்). Its main objective
is to promote Tamil computing worldwide by bringing together professionals of Tamil
IT, enthusiasts, Research Scholars and ordinary Tamils, so that Tamils can enjoy the
benefits of all IT developments natively in Tamil environment.
Over the years I have participated in various working groups and activities of INFITT.
Last year I was nominated as Chair to WG02 (Working Group 2 working on Tamil language
related items with Unicode) and as Interim Vice-Chair. I am happy to write that now
in 2008, we have successfully completed our elections at all levels (General Council
and Executive Council) in a professional & transparent manner. I am honoured by
the members for electing me unanimously to serve as their Vice-Chair for the period
2008-2009. I would like to thank all the members and Chair Dr.Kalyan for this honour
through this post.
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தமிழ் மையம் என்று ஒரு தன்னார்வ நிறுவனமும் (அந்த நிறுவனத்தின் ஆதி
மூலம் நமக்கு இங்கே தேவையில்லாததால் அதை விட்டுவிடுவோம்) தமிழக அரசின் சுற்றுலா
மற்றும் கலை வளர்ச்சித் (ஆம் இந்த துறைகள் கூட தமிழக அரசிலுள்ளது என்று நாம்
இந்த நிகழ்ச்சிகள் மூலம் தான் தெரிந்துக்கொள்ளலாம்) துறையும் போன வருடம் முதல் ஆண்டுத்தொரும்
நடத்தும் திருவிழா சென்னை சங்கமம். அதற்கு அழகான தலைப்புக் கொடுத்துள்ளார்கள் - திருவிழா
உங்கள் தெருவிழா.
சென்னை சங்கமம் சென்னையிலுள்ள பல்வேறுப் பூங்காக்களில் பொங்கல் நாட்களையொட்டி நடைப்பெறுகிறது.
அழிந்து வரும் கிராமிய கலைகளான - நடனம், தெருக்கூத்து, நாடகம், களரி, இசை, பாட்டு
இவைக்களுடன் இந்த ஆண்டு கிராமிய/மாவாட்ட உணவு வகைக்களையும் நகரமக்களுக்குக்
கொண்டுவரும் நல்ல முயர்சியாக இது எனக்குத் தொன்றியது. அதலால் நெரில்காண இன்று மைலாப்பூரிலுள்ள
நாகஸ்வராவ் பூங்காவில் நடந்த நிகழ்ச்சிகளைப் பார்க்கப் போனேன். அரசு நிகழ்ச்சியென்பதால்
அமைப்பு சுமாராக இருக்கும், கூட்டமே இருக்காது என்று எதிர்ப்பார்த்த எனக்கு இரண்டிலும்
மகிழ்ச்சியான ஏமாற்றம். நிகழ்ச்சி மேடை மற்றும் பூங்கா சுற்றிடம் (மக்கள் அமர வசதியாக
ஜமாக்களாங்கள் கூட போட்டு வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்தது) அழகாக அமைக்கப்பட்டு நல்ல முறையிலிருந்தது.
முட்டி மொதும் கூட்டமில்லையென்றாலும் ஒரு நூறு பேர் மேல் வந்திருப்பார்கள், நிகழ்ச்சிகளுக்கு
அவர்களிடம் நல்ல வரவேற்பு. ஒரு பூங்காவிலிருந்து இன்னொரு பூங்காவில் நடக்கும் நிகழ்ச்சிகளைப்
பார்க்கப் போக பஸ் வசதி கூடச் செய்யப்பட்டது மகிழ்ச்சி. பாராட்டுக்கள்.
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