Variety is the spice of life

Being part of CBC has its own benefits. The very first get together was a photo walk on old Elphinstone bridge. The second meet was even more interesting. We all gathered for a stand up comedy show. To be honest I never really had high opinions of the show, for the simple reason that, like majority of people who had never attended such shows and've only read about them on Friday news paper supplements, I was of the opinion that it was for some eccentric patrons and out of work movie stars and no one from general public even bothers to turn the side such events happen. How wrong was I !! First thing, tickets were priced at 300 rupees. Why am I revealing the amount first hand? well...just to stress the point that is following. The show was HOUSEFULL. Jam packed the auditorium was. It was so full that people didn't even mind sitting on the floors and pathways and whatever inch of free space available to park their butts. Another point to note was that the average age of the crowd ...

Two "Indian" fishermen gets killed in Arabian sea, the central government flexes its diplomatic muscle and goes to the extent of detaining the ambassador from that country and even dares to defy the might of the European union. Inga Bay of Bengal la daily scores of "Indian" fishermen are getting shot at or arrested and even worse killed by a country not bigger than a medium size state in India and no one from the center even bothers to acknowledge it. Its almost as if they are destined to die. Strategic reasons apart, isn't it time the people up north showed some empathy to those down south. After all we are all still part of the same country, right??  One can't help but wonder the bipartisan attitude. If Pakis send terrorists across border, there is unanimous condemnation, banning cricket relations and entire country erupts. But what the Lankan government is doing to TN fishermen is nothing short of terrorism. And rather than showing support, the other fran...

Rombbbbbaaaa naalikaprum oru award :) from one up and coming  vakeelamma Naaama thaan poiyee solla maatomay (!!) aprum ethuku best liar nu oru award tharaangannu paatha, Liebsterna vera arthamaamla!! Sollavayla..!! Evlo thaan naan FBla nakkal pannalum...enakum oru award kuduthamaikaaga vakeelammaku special thanks :) Per the rules I should give away this Liesbster award to 11 fellow bloggers as an appreciation for their soulful writing. So the rules for this chain mail are: a) Post 11 things about yourself b) Answer 11 questions from the nominator c) Choose 11 deserving bloggers and link them in your post  d) Set 11 questions for them e) Inform the nominees by commenting on one of their post. Enna pathi random 11 points...oray shy shya comings..so me skipping this (ada evlo thadava ithey pointsa sollarathu..ella taglayum same thing asking)   And the 11 questions by teacheramma 1. Have you seen the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? Don’t you think whatever the ch...

I am all for rules and all for breaking the rules at the same time. Those which makes sense to the general majority need not necessarily always be right and that shouldn't be the qualification criteria for a rule. For example dress code. Being presentable and being comfortable is fine. Adhering to something which is either of them is not. Ditto for the "chalta hai" attitude of the vast majority, including me. Take public transport for example, If a bus breaks down, if the seat on a bus is cramped, if the bus doesn't arrive on time, if the bus doesn't stop at the designated "bus stop" area, if the conductor/driver is rude, if they treat passengers as cattle, if they don't give proper change, if the bus leaks during rain, if the seats are damaged and above all if any gal gets squashed molested in a bus ...everything goes. No one bates an eyelid to these things. While 50 rupee ticket A/c bus is cleaned regularly and seats are almost neat and well mainta...

The cleanup brigade has a lot on its plate. First and foremost there would be an army of them. Just like the army they would be grouped into brigades and platoons and would've commanders and foot soldiers. They would form the backbone of the administration. They would be rated and treated on the same lines of army personnel and would be punished with equal severity if found slacking. They would support the demolition squad in all their duty. They are bound to work by service level agreement and are expected to clean up the demo squad act to the minutest detail. Many a times I've seen newer government buildings shine in all its neatness and glory when they are inaugurated by dignitaries. But within weeks they get recoated with paan spit and garbage. Take for example our MRTS railway stations. Some where so neat and nice when started that even movies were picturised there. But nowadays they wear a desolate and dirty look. The cleanup brigade needs to be on their toes, literally, ...

Mudhalvan was a movie that inspired the hell out of me to say the least. Like those that they give on Schools, like what will you do if you become president or CM kind of essays, kudos to Shankar-Sujatha combo for coming up with a movie on a theme so fantastically creative. Apdi thappi thavari gils CM aana enna aagum TN...oru vibareetha idea thaan ...irunthaalum...oru list ready panni vachipomay :D First agenda would be to hire at least a million resources..either voluntarily or forcefully or those who had registered with employment exchange. They will be split into two groups..one group will be called the demolition squad..second would be the cleanup gang. Both would be under direct control of Gils. First groupoda velai is to, as the name itself says, demolish. To me the root cause of all bribery is encroachment. And by encroachment I don't just mean those hectares and acres of govt land "swaha" pannufied by arasiyalvaathis. It starts right from my doorstep, literally....

This is not your typical "I am US return I hate every thing in India" kind of post. Even before also my opinion on our traffic system is not that great. But now that I've a reference to compare it makes it more pathetic. When me and my roomie went for driving classes the first thing that stuck us was the road signs. There were like zillions of them. And also the lane system and the notifications marked on the road. Since neither of us had driven car in India and most of our journeys were either via office cab or by public transport never had that close to the road kind of experience. We were always wondering how the signs would be on our roads in India and it would often lead to arguments. I used to feel that most of our roads never had any lane system and since they are narrow to begin with doesn't make sense to partition them into halves too. He always used to insist that, even if we do have lanes people never used to stick to their sides and would often spill out. ...

Like an out of form cricketer being given innumerable chances to get into the Indian cricket team (entha cricketer pathi pesarennulam kekkapdaathu..there are so many of them like this), Chennai takes me back again for one more time. Vanthu oru vaaram aachu. One advantage of being a night owl is, epdiyum no thookams..so intha jetlaglam oray naalula sari aaidichi. Veetla iruntha thookam varala but office pona kannu sokkuthu. Oru vela IT officelaam government office stylela work panrathunaala irukumo??!! Naama thaan punctual paranthaamannu paatha, en ex-team makkal enakku melanu prove panitaanga. I went to opice around 2. Appo thaan paathi team coming to opice itself!! Lean periodnu solraanga aana makkalaam snacks saaptu semma rounda irukaanga :D Women's dayku post podalaya..status update pannia...atleast naalu ponnuku wish panni msg anupinianu oray the imsais. Ada pongappa. Newspaperla kashimir kundu vedippu epdi pulichi pona newsa aadicho athey mathiri rape news agitu varuthu. B...

Velayaattu pola 11 months have passed since i came here. And now the time has come for me to return back to Chennai. The gravitational pull and push of chennai on me is such that, it takes me in after an year away only to push me out within the next year. Every time when i come back, i always promise myself to have a different lifestyle, more outgoing and spending time at new places with new friends, only to confine myself to my room and computer on weekends never to even come out for sunshine :) Hope this time it changes. When i came in here i had lot of complaints. I was so much in denial that, i forgot to look at the other side, the real side, the positive brighter one. I squinted my eyes to make the picture distorted and it took a while for things to sink in. As i pack my bags i realise the past 11 months would've been anyone's dream. I could've been like Charlie Harper from Two and Half men minus the booze and ladies, with hardly a care in the world. I forced my mana...