Chennai Times

I love Chennai with a fierce loyalty.. Even if there a number of things wrong with the city.Sometimes i get so angry with the way people from other parts of the country..(Not the world).. People from other parts of our very own country make assumptions about the city and its people. I want to relate something that happened recently. I was recently out of town for a performance with an artiste. We did 2 shows over a period of 3 days, organised by 2 different events companies. Now i came to know that when the artiste communicated to the events managers that the dancers had to brought from chennai, the first guy reacted like this: "Chennai??? But the dancers will be too dark!!! And wont they dress badly????" The second guy reacted like this: "Chennai?? Why Chennai??" Now never mind the fact that we are a reputable dance company with over 2000 shows all over the world to our credit with some of the best costumes in the city!! If you are a South Indian from Chennai, then...

' Sivaji ' will be released on June 15th (unless something else crops up in the meanwhile) and the City of Chennai doesn't talk of anything else for the past so many months. Autorickshaws sport the Sivaji stills as stickers in their front, large hoarding have come everywhere in the city, blogs and websites have been agog about the making of the movie, the music is already a celebrated hit and is repeated being played across the city. Rajnikanth is back and with a bang. Since his earlier movie, Chandramukhi, there has been too much expectation and the combination of talent that has come together for Sivaji has ensured that the rumour mills have been working over time. Rajnikanth as a phenomenon is South India, particularly Tamilnadu is worth understanding. The best way to describe his stature is that he is a religion. The celebration, anticipation, faithful following, reckless spending, mindless sentiments all those other things Indians do with their religion, they do to hi...

With no self-delusion, the first smell that I can recollect of Chennai (particularly as I am away from town right now) is the repulsive smell of sewage. The visual of men stepping out of open drainages completely covered with muck to empty in the roads with complete nonchalance open garbage extracted from the bowels of the 'cultured' city in whichever part can be easily accompanied with the stomach churning stink of the contents that thousands will step over, drive over with their noses covered never to care as to how they cause it. Most people stepping into Chennai city for the first time will either encounter the overwhelming smell of urine of the central station (go there late night or mid-morning to watch the splendour of a lady cleaning shit from the rails with her hands) or the smell of dust, sweat and cigarette as they step out of the airport or the smell of polluting vehicles if they have to step down from a bus at Koyembedu. The other prominent smell is the smell of ...

I have travelling recently, and i realised something. Psychologists have probably done this subject to death, but i discovered that smells have a lot to do with how a person associates with a place. I love Chennai with a fierce loyalty that scares some people. Inspite of all its faults, i think its an amazing place to call home! And i realised that i am someone who has travelled all over Chennai in my trusty old two-wheeler and each area has its own unique special smell. A person just knows where they are by the smell of that place. I just compiled a list of smells that i just cannot live without. Feel free to add to that list The smell of CDs inBurma bazaar The smells of humanity, silk sarees and jewellery in Pondy bazaar and T.nagar Spanking new electronics and that particular metallic smell they have in Richie street The smell of lights, paper, clothes, fruits, vegetables, people, flowers, food, plastics and temples in Parrys. etc The traditions and temple smells of Mylapore. The Co...

The Hindu, dated 20th May: The magazine section has some nice articles. One is called the Gulp Holiday. Its about Dubai, and since i just went there recently, this article made a lot of sense, and the writing is really witty! Thats one. The other article is something that i have wanted to write about on this blog.Its about the waterways of chennai. I live with 2 old people at home, who have told me zillions of stories about the fantastic trade that used to happen through chennai's waterways. Imagine if we bring them back to their former glory, the number of advantages that we traffic clogged chennaiites would have.Imagine the waterways having green and clean embankments where there are benches, with big leafy trees to protect us picnickers from the sun!Every waterway has a small pier from which a beautiful restored ferry leaves on guided tours around the city. Think of the tourism opportunities. Also the citizens can do something else with their spare time, other than blowing hard ...

If you have been following the news lately, then the art issue with artist chandramohan won't be unfamiliar to you. Now i dont know the details of the so called "obscene art" that he displayed, but i have one thing to say to the moral police." There are a million things wrong with this country today, but there are also a million things right with it. Lets concentrate on making the wrongs right again and not harass commoners. In the land of Kamasutra and Kajuraho (where some of the most erotic sculptures are displayed), sex and sexuality were a part of life, long ago! I don't know how or when this whole concept of moral policing started, but to put it in the language of the youth, It simply sucks!!". Now how does this issue relate to chennai? Let me tell you. a. You cannot go out with a guy, even if it is just a friend to places, like the beach, park etc. without getting harassed by a two bit cop, who's looking to make some money off you. Even if you deci...

'This tells the story of the deer in the British period', ends a panel that explains the Gun Spotted Deer kept for display at the Children's Park, Guindy. This tongue-in-cheek comment caught my eye while ona visit with family! I never would have expected the babus of our departments, that too the forest department to have such sense of humour. Aparently this large metallic deer on wheels was used as a moving shooting targer and the idea was to shoot the holes in the deer's body (10 of them informs the panel) before the British babus could indulge in the shooting of the real ones. I think they should supplement this information with the total number of deer that were perhaps thus shot by the Brits.

i am someone, who travels a lot. all over! and something thats always bothered me in chennai is road rules. i drive a two wheeler, and i used to be pretty rash and always ran lights, went the wrong way.etc. i embodied the true indian road user. people admired me, looked up to me even. see deep within, i probably am not a maverick, i have that innate common man's fear of being caught doing something wrong, so i generally try to follow rules. so when i went to malaysia and realised that even if it is 3 a.m. people stop their vehicles behind the stop line, they dont run lights and god forbid they drive down the wrong side. it just doesnt happen. so i came back, fully inspired to follow all road rules and be the single one that changed the minds of all those wannabe racers on the roads of chennai.but.....I GOT ABUSED!! seriously if u want to sample the local language, try stopping your vehicle behind the stop line, u will recieve an earful! oh and also if the seconds on the red light h...

I met Sardar yesterday when I took his auto from one end of the city to another. One way of categorizing the Chennai auto drivers is those who talk and those who don't. Sardar belongs to the former category. This category requires very little prompting from the customer to start talking, so did he. But, why do I bother writing about my encounter with Sardar? Because of his current problem. He went to admit his son to a school and they asked him to produce a 'caste' certificate. Sardar is a Muslim born and brought up in one of the lower income areas of North Chennai and is not aware of being anything else other than a Muslim all his life. He does his prayers, he tried to be sincere in his vocation ('started driving auto when the minimum was 4.40 and tried to carry on without 'sudu meter', but, had to give up because it was not viable') and has worked hard to make a living. He does not know under what category of 'caste' he belongs. He told this to th...

Just now found this blog of Mrs. Sujaritha teaching Vedic Mathematics in Chennai. Wonder how many more such people are there who teach various modern interpretation / variations of traditional sciences and technologies in and around chennai? The Vedic Math Forum India Associate Blog : "The Vedic Math Forum India Associate Blog" Anyone knows??