Self Discipline

Things that are visible to me
Won't my hands take them all?
The sky that's visible from earth
Won't that become ours to call?
Thinking forever and trying
hard, will we finally lose?
Tell me O goddess thou who
are the sky, earth, my eyes and numbers.

The Promises, the pride, the successes
So many priveleges!
Control over self shall
get these and more
told the wise men of yore
in the scriptures.
Yet will we stand low
failing to control our self?


Cross posted in A Spark of Fire

Chennai Trivia - 14

This time I will make it contemporary. Most of us cross the Anna Flyover in Gemini area on regular basis. Right at the apex of the flyover there is a small police shack 2ftx2ftx8ft with a Policeman inside it. Check carefully the next time you go across the fly over. So why is he there?

(I too don't have an answer but only a guess, let's see what you people come up with.)

Chennai - some happenings

The Tamilnadu Police HQ on the Marina Beach Road (Kamarajar Salai) is one of the landmark buildings of Chennai. It was built in 1839 as the first Indian Free Masons Lodge and later became the Police HQ in 1859. The fully lit up building presents an awesome picture when seen from the beach. The Government with all its wisdom wanted to pull it down and build a new building there in 1993, but the efforts of Chennai Conservationists led by Mr. S. Muthiah prevented the same.

From The Hindu

But now the Government is getting back. the low compound wall has been razed to ground and 10 ft long iron fencing has come up marring the view. There might be real security considerations, but it still sucks. I just hope that they do not erect a concrete wall and hide it fully.

If you can read Tamil head over to Narain's Tamil blog for a primer on Chennai Underworld. It is one of most realistic portrayals I have ever read.

Idli - 2

I am on a Idli trip now. During my childhood, breakfast consisted of Idlis fo 6 days a week. On the 7th day we had Dosai(as we pronounce it, not Dosa). Despite my lean build (then) I could eat n number of Idlis. A good Idli breakfast needs an equally good side dish. In this we had variety - Coconut Chutney, Tomato Chutney, Paruppu Thogayal, Milaga Thogayal, Thakkali Thokku, Kathirikkai Kosumalli, Sambar, Vengaya Sambhar, Milagai Podi, Thirakkal (this is a chettinadu special item - made with Potatoes) and some times the previous day's Kulambu.

Idlis must be had piping hot. In our area when people say enough, the host will reply , "Wait, there is a new batch of piping hot idlis. Have one more". And invariably the guest will end up eating more than he had planned. A touch of Nallennai is absolutely necessary for that divine experience.

Having had such wonderful Idlis at home, I wasn't prepared for what the college mess served as Idli. As any good cook would say Idli needs Urad dhal and Rice in the ratio of 1:2. Since Rice is cheaper than Dhal, they add more rice and that make the Idlis rock solid. But my love for Idlis overcame such trivial matters and Idli was the only dish I ate wholeheartedly at college.

Sometime back I came across Santosh's blog on Idlis and wrote an impromptu verse as comment there. Here I reproduce my tribute to Idlis.



Idli on wikipedia

Idli

My mother makes the best Idlis in the world. That's not an empty boast. Whenever there is a get together in our apartment / colony it was always her responsibility to make Idlis. People always say "Aachi, how do you make such wonderful idlis?". For the last ten years she has been thinking about making Idlis as a business. Every now and then we all get together and discuss various business models and at the end drop the idea. Too difficult, distribution is a headache were the common reasons.


This year she finally decided to sell Idli batter (maavu) to the neighbourhood grocery shop. So with my father pitching in with the sealing machine and me buying plastic bags, she started her business. It was with small quantities, 2 kgs on alternate days. After a couple of days the shopkeeper said, "You are using high quality rice. Normally people use ration rice for this, so why don't you also do the same?". The board of directors of the business (myself, my father and mother) sat together and decided that quality is more important and we would not sacrifice that.

It has been two months now and she is doing good business. People come to our home directly to buy. She is not keeping clear accounts and I don't know what is the ROI. But the effect of the business on my mom is awesome. There is a spring in her step and she feels that she is finally doing something on her own.

Tsunami remembrance day

Today while coming to office via Beach Road, saw black flags fluttering on all the fishing boats. It has been a year. Even though I was unaffected, (except for the mad rumour about another Tsunami that forced me to evacuate my office) at some level I think it changed us all. The incident proved to me (if proof was needed) the ephemerality of life; and that there is no god (Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian or the Invisible Pink Unicorn).

MGR's death anniversary

MG Ramachandran's death anniversary has been a quiet affair for the past few years. You will see odd posters here and there from old faithfuls. The new ADMK is built around Jayalalithaa. However, today it was a surprise to see a big turnout at MGR's memorial in Marina beach. Lots of vans, traffice diverted in Beach Road and all that. The ADMK pary was out in full force remembering its founder. Probably Jayalalithaa realised that she still needed MGR's charisma (even though he has been dead for 18 years now) in the forthcoming elections.

We were in Pudukkottai and I was 12 when MGR passed away on 24th Dec, 1987. Our house was the only one with Television in our street. So we had all sorts of people pouring in to see the funeral procession broadcast live on TV. And people were crying like crazy. That man had such a hold on Tamilnadu. No one else has ever come close to that.

Kizhavenmani - a forgotten village

I first came to know about Kizhavenmani incident through the novel Kurudhippunal written by Indira Parthasarathy. I read the novel when I was 20 and was shocked. In the introduction there was this information that the novel was based on the Kizhavenmani incident. If you are a Tamil who reads only Vikatan/Kumudam/Kalki you would have hardly heard about this.

In 1967, the agricultural labourers of Tanjore (Thanjavur) District formed a union in order to get better working conditions. Communist leaders Maniammai and Srinivasa Rao were instrumental in this. They raised the red flags in the villages. The landlords formed their separate union with yellow flags.. The negotiations broke because the landlords refused to accept the labour's requirement of additonal half a portion of rice. In the meanwhile two labourers from Kizhavenmani were whipped by the landlords and that led to the final incident.

On Dec 25, 1967 the landlords army entered the village and started firing. The labourers retaliated. A riot was on. Women and children ran helter skelter and took shelter in Ramiah's hut at the end of the village. 48 people in a hut of 8ft x 5 ft. The door was locked from outside and the hut set on fire. 6 people rushed out, of which two were thrown back into the fire. A mother threw her child out, but the killers threw the child back in. By the time Police came and opened the hut 44 people were burnt. 14 women and 22 children included. The doctor from Nagapattinam said he couldn't identify who was who.

(Facts from Sep 2004 issue of Pudhiya Parvai, link via Boston Bala, Tamil Blog).

Newspapers wrote it is a Shame to the Nation. The same headlines that were written for 1984 massacres and Godhra massacres. We are probably a nation of shameless people. 106 people were arrested and after 7 years the Supreme Court released them, I think due to lack of evidence.

When I first learnt about this I was shocked to say the least. I enquired my dad and he said he had some vague recollections, my mother didn't remember it at all. Out of the bloggers I have asked about this, only Lazy Geek had heard about this. This is one of those incidents that has been forgotten collectively by majority of Tamilnadu.

But there are people who haven't forgotten. Last week a documentary of this incident named "Ramaiaah's hut" was released by an organisation called The Roots. I read about it today from Madhumithaa's Tamil blog. The DVD/VCD versions are available with them.

DVD Rs. 350.00
CD Rs. 250.00
Rs. 30.00 for postage within India.
The Roots
4/17, I floor,
Navalar Street,
Devarajan Nagar,
Dasarathapuram,
Saligramam, Chennai 600 093

No mobile phones in Anna University Hostels too

That is what I heard in the Sun TV news item. Professors have been authorised to suspend students found with a mobile phone in campus. Yes found with, not even talking. And there was this Professor Ram Prabhakar who declared on TV, "Students waste so much time on mobile phones. They can use it productively in Library or browsing the Internet". It proved one - the Prof doesn't know about Internet, two - probably some students had a better phone than him. There was also a line about checking in hostels too. That reminded me of what happened in my Engineering College.

As I wrote earlier, I studied in a college as far removed from civilisation as it can be. We didn't have any attendace in college then. If anybody had 50 percent attendance then they were allowed to write exams. In this scenario, someone came with the idea of taking attendance in the hostels during night time. The first day, the warden went around the rooms checking the inmates. The seniors (I was in second year then) hatched a plan. A gang of swearers locked themselves up in a room. And when the warden knocked, he received the choicest of abuses and cuss words for two minutes. Then they opened the door and said, "Sorry Sir, we thought it was the guys from next room". Suffice to say that was the end of the attendance routine.

ISO - a hoax

I strongly feel that ISO certification is the biggest hoax on the corporate world, wrought by some European Consultants who had too much time at hand. ISO certifiation improves quality - and Laloo was the best CM in India. I have been involved in ISO certification processes and know the tricks we did to clean up our books and fool the auditors.

Why this rant now? Some clients expect me to get ISO certification for potato selling too. Death to them.

Things I want to blog about, but am lazy

1. Feel sorry for Saurav Ganguly. Whatever his faults, atleast they could have told him to his face and given him an opportunity to retire. And lily pure / Mr.Clean / Team Man Dravid gets the first blemish on him. To say that Saurav's contribution was crucial to the victory and then vote against him in the selection committee meeting is wrong.

2. Feel sorry for Jeyandra Saraswathi. Accusing him of stealing ornaments is demeaning and nothing but character assasination. And before any one wants to argue with me, read my earlier post about Kanchi Mutt written in November 2004 here. I feel sorry for him the way I would feel sorry for any one systematically targeted by the State.

3. Old Confucius saying : You build college in river, floods will force auhtorities to break it. I do not feel sorry for AC Shanmugam, the Chancellor of Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute.

4. Something far worser than what happened in Gurgaon Honda workers strike happened in China. Why are the communists and their organ "The Hindu" keeping quite?

Top 4 movies of the year

It is that time of the year, when lists are released. Let me start with my list of movies.

1. Warm Springs : An amazing movie covering FDR's life from the time he got the polio attack to his return to full time politics. The transformation from a vain politician (psoing with Boy Scouts and all) to a compassionate man, getting to terms with his disability and loss of purpose in life - it was a treat to watch this movie. The actress who played Eleanor Roosevelt lent good support to the movie. I even had moist eyes during the dinner scene where the small kid with polio takes her first steps.

2. Kaadhal : A Tamil Movie that stayed true to reality (except for the Bachelor Mansion scenes in the second half). Since all the actors were new faces and the dialect too was different, it was a refreshing change. Character selection was flawless in the movie.

3. Kanda Naal Mudhal : A fun, multiplex hit movie - if you forget to ask for the story.

4. Ghajini : Asin was the bright spot in the movie. Surya came a close second. A good plot (though borrowed) laid waste by non existent screen play. Too many logical holes. Surya has short term memory loss, so the director used his diary to move the story. Then the nurse in the hospital explains about Asin meeting the villain. After that Asin is killed and Surya is injured by the villain. Director couldn't find any tool to tell this to the viewer, so it hangs just like that.

P.S. For those wondering how I saw Warm Springs, it was inflight entertainment. It wasn't strictly a movie, it was a TV biography.
P.P.S. For those wondering why Top 4, that was the total number of movies I saw this year.

Native Humour

This cannot be translated, so if you don't understand Tamil, skip this post.

I had gone to my village again during this weekend. It was a short trip, left Chennai on Saturday evening and returned back on Monday morning. The roads are terrible from Chennai to Trichy, but that's for another day. This incident happened in Pudukkottai bus stand where I was waiting for the bus.

A call for Bharathiar fans

The main purpose of starting A Spark of Fire, a translation of Bharathiar's works was to introduce non Tamil readers to his poems. I was a bit surprised when most of the Tamil Junta were ignorant about his works and were happy to read it in English. As I was discussing with a friend, Bharathiar is still remembered in schools only because he is suited for fancy dress competitions. Not pointing fingers, just my thoughts.

Painting by K. Bhashyam source: www.chennaimuseum.org

I am no expert on Bharathi or his usage of words. I use Cologne on line Tamil Lexicon to arrive at meanings. I request fellow fans of Bharathiar to participate in the effort of translating his works into English. The tamil online versions of his poems are available at Pondicherry Online and Tamil Nation website (check the links on the right hand side). You can send your translations to me at chenthilnathan at gmail dot com. I will post in the blog under your name. Let this be our tribute to the Mahakavi, whose birthday it was yesterday, 11th Dec.

Cyclone Fanoos spares Chennai, set to hit Nagappattinam

As per latest bulletins, Cyclone Fanoos will cross the shore some where between Nagapattinam and Chennai. Chennai has been receiving only mild rains from yesterday. No down pours. From TV news it looks like Nagapattinam, Pondicherry, Tanjore, Pudukkottai districts will be hit hard.


source: www.weather.com

Cyclone Fanoos nears Chennai

Chennai is gearing up for yet another cyclone. This time it is Cyclone Fanoos. This is the location at 17.50 hrs on 8th December.


animated link from weather.com

So, what can you do? Marvel at the wonders of technology that captured this image, and get on with your life as usual.

My view - a poem by Kamalhassan

Tamil original by Kamalhassan published in Kumudam.

My Translation:

My window view
made Galileo's world
look square.

Kanda Naal Mudhal - A multiplex hit

Saw the movie Kanda Naal Mudhal. The promos were interesting with Prakash Raj, the producer, telling that is as fresh as your morning cup of coffee. Well, it is a fun movie, you have to give it to him.

It is a simple story - sort of Kushi plus Minsara Kanavu stuff. Prasanna (the unassuming hero from Five Star and Alagiya Theeye), Karthik (Founder of Evam, more popularly identified as the brother in Alai Payuthe who wants to marry Shalini) and Laila make up the three sides of the triangle. Laila and Prasanna are always at each other's throats. She even bites his cheek (yeah bites, not kisses) when they are young. So when Prasanna's friend Karthik is engaged to marry Laila, things become interesting. Karthik breaks off the engagement saying that he doesn't feel a chemistry with Laila, she blames Prasanna for that.

If you are an avid Tamil movie watcher, you know the story from now on. Good points about the movie is good acting from Prasanna. That guy knows to emote well, unlike Laila who has a lovely smile and nothing else in terms of emotion.

The supporting cast has been chosen well, with Lakshmi and Revathi as mothers. In Mounaragam we saw Revathi's father getting a heart attack because she refuses to marry. Here you see Revathi getting a heart attack because of her daughter. How time flies.

The director, Priya V (Manirathnam's assistant) has steered clear of regular cliches. When Laila learns about the break up from Karthik, she slaps Prasanna and rushes away in an auto. Prasanna gives her a chase in the bike, and I was almost sure that a truck will come and knock him off. Thank God, it didn't happen.

The songs were there because a Tamil movie needs songs. Otherwise none of the songs were memorable.

The movie is aimed at multiplex crowd and will be a sure hit there. Whether it will do well in Tamilnadu beyond cities is doubtful.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Horror of horrors, the movie shows Laila's sister getting pregnant and eloping before marriage. How can the custodians of Tamil Culture allow this? Why are they not up in arms, especially director Seemaan (any body knows which movie he directed)? Is it because the other movie released last week Thavamai Thavamirundhu also shows the hero having premarital sex and eloping with the girl? And that movie is directed by "Tamil" director Cheran?

Looking back

Highly personal post. Skip it if you have anything better to do.

It was 5 years ago that I got married. December 7, 2000. After a year of convincing everybody (including the bride) that I had to (and will) marry her. Year 2001 dawned happily for me. New job, New wife, things were great. Little did I know of what was in store for me. Just look at the time line

Dec 7, 2000 - Married

Jan 1, 2001 - Switched jobs

March, 2001 - Pregnancy

April, 2001 - Took a home loan and bought a flat

September 2001 - My wife had to be hospitalised for Pregnancy induced Hyper Tension

October 2001 - Her company started lay offs, and she was a natural choice.

October 2001 - The Software company I was in started sliding, unable to pay salaries. My mortgage was INR 15,000.00 and my take home had dropped to INR 10,000.00

Nov 27, 2001 - My daughter was born in 29 weeks, 7 weeks premature. Weighing 1.5 kgs, the doctor predicting she had a 50:50 chance at survival, Neo Natal ICU and all that stuff.

Looking back, I wonder how I went through all this in a span of a year. Things were bleak through out the first half of 2002, till I landed in this job and she too got a break.

Two searing memories of those scraping the bottom years remain with me. One was the Madras Book Exhibition 2002. I literally had no money, but felt I had to go to the exhibition, if only to look. The pangs I felt at not even being able to buy a book for 100 Rs. is still fresh. Of course by next year things had improved and I splurged :-). The next was not being able to spend enough to attend a close friend's wedding in Trichy. Again I did not have enough money for the tickets and the gift.

Things are better now. Looking back, I am surprised that I never panicked even at the worst moments. Probably because I think I can never fail :-). Poor wife went through a torturous period worrying about finances, while I was worrying about not being able to buy a book.

Looking forward to many more years of this ride, I would prefer a little less bumpy please.

Haywards 5000 beats them all

Ok, I am fudging the result a bit, but Haywards 5000 and Kingfisher Super Strong are judged the least offensive of Super Strong Indian Beers by our friendly consulate officer Prince Roy. These are the kind of posts that make blogs lively.

Considering I started my drinking with Haywards 5000 before moving on to white spirits, I am happy that a childhood pal has won. More power to you Haywards.

Chennai - Tuticorin Service by Air Deccan

I still can't believe it, but it is true. Air Deccan is starting Chennai - Tuticorin air service, from 1st Feb 2006. You can book from their website now. Thanks to reader T. Senthil Durai from Tuticorin for pointing this. (Actually this is more unbelievable, there are regular non blogger readers for this blog).


Chennai----> Tuticorin
09:15 11:15
-----------------------------------
Madurai--------> Chennai
10:50 12:55 ( via Tuticorin )
18:50 20:05
------------------------------------
Madurai ----> Tuticorin
10:50 11:15
------------------------------------
Tuticorin --------> chennai
11:15 12:55

Bad news

Some lake is overflowing, not sure which one. Flood warning has been issued in Egmore, Aminjikkarai, Kotturpuram areas. Semi confirmed reports say that the Adyar River has come upto the banks near the Kotturpuram bridge. People in Kotturpuram have been asked to evacuate.

Update 18.00 hrs 03.12.2005: The Vedanthangal Lake has been breached. Water outflow from Puzhal and Chembarambakkam has increased.

Update 18.30 hrs: 100 ft road in Vadapalani is under water. Further details in News Today, Chennai's eveninger.

Chennai battered again

Looks like the now weakened Cyclone Bazz was waiting for the India Srilanka Test Match to begin. On the morning of 2nd December, the sky opened up. Non stop rain as before. By evening all the roads were flooded. I took Mount Road, fairly clear and entered GN Chetty Road which was a swimming pool. Cenotaph Road, which is normally clear was also flooded. Chittaranjan Road, (the road next to Cenotaph Road ICICI) is in knee deep water.

My brother in law's Ground Floor flat in Mogappair is about to be flooded. Looks like the Ambattur Lake has breached / opened and the water is flooding Mogappair. Situation is bad in Arcot Road, Valsaravakkam too. Our famous non blogger CCG, is sitting in a bus in Pattabiram for the last 4 hours with traffic building up on either side. Last time he came to Chennai, he spent 8 hours stranded in a train.

Now, the sun is out and the weather is warm. But the flood water (mixed with sewage) in many places is yet to recede. The suburbs are badly hit.

P.S. And whoever stole my post about the last rains and put it up in Rediff readers comments, please do not include my mail id this time. I am getting too much spam because of you.

Two good posts

1. A counter to all those who blame the Government for corruption, by a Government Servant and a widely read blogger.

2. A review that makes me wish I was able to write like that.

PTI redraws Chennai map

From a PTI report in Rediff

The M A Chidambaram stadium, lying metres away from the Marina seashore, escaped the fury of the tsunami last December

When I last checked the stadium was quite some distance away from the seashore.