Chennai Pride!

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 automatically you must be dark and ugly.. and dont know how to dress!!
This made me so furious..
These kind of prejudices in a country of dark skinned people is ridiculous, absurd, disgusting and frightening!!
I have a million things to say to all those people who have such ridiculous prejudices.
I have met and interacted with a number of people of African origin in my line of work and the kind of pride they have in their colour and their race is heartwarming!
Its downright stupid to make such dumb assumptions in today's Ratrace world.
I personally think that its South Indians who are the actual brains in this country and world over.
Why make assumptions about people from here, when tomorrow they will have the power to veto anything you say.
Its true, i think that Chennai has the capacity of becoming a superpower within the country, if only we Chennaiites could learn to harness all of our talent and use it harmoniously.
We should start a movement!"BE PROUD TO BE BROWN!" And as a part of this movement, we should right at least 70% of the wrongs in this city and face down anybody who dares to think we are weak and stupid just because of our colour!
Make this a warcry!!!"BE PROUD TO BE BROWN!"

Rajnikanth: Silent Pope of the Tamil masses

'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 him too. That doesn't mean he is God though (the only time he tried to call himself that, the box office bombed like never before in Baba) unlike the earlier generations of MGR, NTR, Krishna, etc. At the most, he is a Pope, a silent one at that. He is religion and adhered to and followed with great fervor as there is no regulating of his followers as Hinduism does. His silence as to what his fans should do (except for the one famous, 'even God cannot save you' statement endlessly and shamelessly exploited by the DMK) has perhaps made him an enigma to whom anything can be ascribed. The fans want to believe he is the ideal person, indeed, my favourite friends, the autorickshaw drivers of Chennai, when queried as to why they need to keep his photos with them, state that it is because ' he is a good man'! All his limitations can be forgiven for this purpose.

In times deprived of leaders and models among men, in the social and political milieu of tamilnadu where spiritual / religious quest or even an inclination can only be ridiculed, where jingoistic showmanship rules the roost as social commitment, where the nonsensical verbiage of a person is often directly proportional to his eminence, Rajinikanth is an exception. He doesn't talk often, never seems to give any large interviews, does not endorse any products, does not hide his spiritual / religious inclinations, does not make a show of his giving (except a few times when there were rumours that he will eventually join politics) nor try to derive unnecessary media and political mileage out of it. Yet, despite all the political rhetoric that is placed on his door step, he has managed to rule the hearts of the tamil masses through movies that repeatedly portray the oldest formula on earth - the good will eventually prevail! The success of his movies is partly based on the machismo attached to the 'good' that appeals to the tamil masculinity. But, at the same time, his appeal to women is no lesser, at least two generations of women have admired his 'style'!! He is not the best of actors, but, the effortless ease of his performance of any role (mostly the action hero) ensures that the movie goer is never to forget the fact that this is all celluloid. His message is rather direct and often becomes the most used one liner, gesture, gimmick in Tamilnadu. Some of them have become legendary and are repeated for generations.

The spectra of a Rajnikanth movie release in Chennai and Tamilnadu is to be seen to be believed, Sivaji is already booked for the first month according to my informers (all auto-wallas), it has had a record sale of its music, it is being released in Japenese and some African language also. I find that there are large number of blogs that offer everything from unofficial photos to song downloads of this movie, there are even blogs in French and Japenese!! It may be a movie for the rest of the world, but, in Tamilnadu and particularly in Chennai, the religion of Rajnikanth will be seen in action...its achievements and pitfalls yet again discussed, rumours of his eventual entry to politics once again resurrected, the madness of high cost for the first day ticket and the meaningless acts of sentiments discussed by the intelligent...the show start soon!

Chennai Smells!?!?!?!?!!?

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 urine that stems out of every sidewalk (and many staircases), particularly after our showers, the very memory of those smells could repel one from stepping into any road during the monsoon and the amount of scrubbing people do to themselves after they reach home during the monsoon because they had to wade through the water is partly because of the overwhelming memory of the smell - of a concoction of urine in the walkways, the residual fecal matter of many years, the garbage thrown by uncaring and insensitive society.

Then there is the smell that is an hybrid of cheap food and dirt, of petrol fumes wafting through the ajino-mato filled chinese food sold at a throw away price to satisfy the gastro-intestinal cravings of a stomach long since rendered insensitive by liberal helping of alcohol, particularly in north Chennai. The smell of large quantities of rotting food discarded in the open outside the most fancier restaurants in the morning in mylapore that produce their unique quality by mixing with the strong coffee grinding machines closeby, the overwhelming smell of shit combined with salt water that you experience while walking early morning in the marina, the stench of truely cosmopolitan garbage consisting of domestic, hospital and community waste carried during peak hour traffic by open lorries, discarding semi-composed mixed left overs of a million homes as a mosaic of mixed medium carpet on the roads for everyone else to step / ride on to their work, some while experiencing the lung choking stench if they were to be right behind the lorry in the most crowded roads; the mixed smell of sweat and baking soda (that is applied in lieu of perfume) that one experiences in buses crossing doveton or the smell of cheap perfume of different makes, all worn together and with equal flourish that hits and could cause temporary black out when one is in certain parts of the old city like triplicane; the overwhelming smell of petrol fumes in Nungambakkam, enhanced with the smell of burning tar whenever the corporation decides to dig the road, which it does every few weeks.

The smell of cheap oil frying unhealthy edibles on the road side only over powered by the DDT sprays by the corporation dark vans around Shastri bhavan. For that matter the combined smell of oily food, open decomposed food waste, sweat, dust and dirty leaking sewage that comes from every campus canteen whether it is IIT or Stella or any other.

The smell of the omnipresent 'udhubathi' adorning in reverence plastic gods painted in gold tucked using discarded cigerette packs on the autorickshaw front panel combined with the fumes of carbon mono-oxide of questionable origins that spew in different shades of black in volcanic proportions from the sides of the metropolitan buses. The strange smell of food and cheap 'jasmine' (its always that) room freshener in every restaurant of middle class category; the smell of mixed flowers from the flower vendors combined with the smell of discarded garlands and putrified and discarded 'theertham' outside many temples (inside few too), the smell of cigerettes combined with cheap aftershave that wafts out of every men's saloon. The smell of cheap upholstery that is not wiped of other people's sweat in the call taxi's of the city. The smell of garbage being burnt any time of the year in kodungaiyur and perungudi that compels you to question whether it is worth living in this city.

The smell of cow dung thankfully is now restricted to a few areas, but, the not the smells of the city's drainage which one can feel if one were to use (whatever is left of) the sidewalk. The gaps in the sidewalk that cover the city's drainage system opens in equal intervals (I am sure with every intention to swallow some innocents during the monsoon) gives a stench that perhaps is unique and may well qualify as the smell of Chennai.

Smells of chennai!!

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 Cosmopolitan, perfumed fragrance of Nungambakkam
The shiny new smell in Annanagar
The smell of the sea and nature in and Besant Nagar
U can smell the sandwiches of Montieth road all over Egmore
The combined smells of old money and the cooum in Adyar
The unique, special smell of Mount Road near LIC and Devi Theatre
The smell of army fatigues and musty British era buildings near Secretariat
I can go on for the rest of the day....

Small Venice in Big India!

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 earned money on greasy overfried food in a plastic oversized "mall" where various offers tempt any sane human being to act like animals.Imagine having those peanut carts and cotton candy vendors and little game stalls in one corner of the embankment. Think of the employment opportunities. We could have a caretaker, and an eco-management team, who take care that people don't litter the park area.We could also have regular ferries that take you from one area to the other just like bus services.We could be India's own Venice!Just Imagine!I have half a mind to become a politician just to see this dream come true! If anybody wants to see this happen at least in the next 10 years, write me!!

art attack??

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 decide to go to a posh restaurant or a cineplex, if you travel on a two wheeler, you are sure to shell out so called fines on the way there.

b. You cannot drive a two wheeler, if you are a girl, without being commented on, overtaken, laughed at etc. by condescending, patronising policemen.

c. Try wearing a sleeveless top and making a harassment complaint against an eveteaser. "oh honey, don't you know? Its all your fault for dressing provocatively!

d. If its past 10 p.m. and you are out on the road, the cops look at you like you are a "you-know-what"? They are allowed to ask you all sorts of stupid personal questions, even though the country is not at war, we are not facing a curfew situation or any such thing! All this while the local friendly cat burglar is sneaking into a house and making off with his bounty. Why were'nt the cops there? They were busy harassing Innocent people!!

ALL THIS IN THE NAME OF MORAL POLICING!! WHATEVER HAPPENED TO, " INDIA IS THE LARGEST DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD"?

British Deer Hunting in Chennai and the British: GCP's sense of humour!

'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.

to follow or not follow?

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 have come down to 10 it means you can start crossing the intersection. how about that? try waiting till it comes down to 0. you just try it today, you will learn that even a sophisticated 30 something software professional driving one of those sleek motorbikes(that dont give you mileage at all) can speak like the local mechanic! will wonders never cease? don't get me wrong. i do think that individuals can make a difference. but in this case, only if you want to get abused.try doing the following things if you are a road user in chennai and tell me what happens.1. stop behind the stop line. make a conscious effort.2. wait till the seconds on the red light comes down to zero. don't bother if your eardrums are ready to burst from the continuous horn honking behind you.3. absolutely don't drive on the wrong side. now i know this is difficult since the chennai traffic police have taken it upon themselves to block every gap in the median, but thats a subject for another day.

Auto Driver 1482: Sardar's Caste Problem?!

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 the school authorities, but, they declined admission saying that his child should belong to 'some caste' and he better find that out.

So, Sardar says, he told me yesterday, 'I don't know, you see, we Muslims don't have a caste, even the likes of Rawthars and Maraikkayars are occupation based groupings. Rawthers are horse riders and Maraikkayars are the fishermen, etc. If I go for my prayers and even if Abdul Kalam were to come late, he has to stand behind me, neither can he expect to be given the front place nor will be he offered. We may out of respect make way for him as individuals, but, according to our religion, all are equal.' So, how did he respond to the school authorities, I asked him.

'I told them to classify my son as the lower most caste if need be as it didn't matter to me, but, they insist that in that case he will get a few benefits, so, I better get caste certificate. So, I told them to mark him as the highest caste possible, but, nor will they accept that for a Muslim, and insist that I produce a caste certificate. I don't want to accept caste, I don't think it is good for us, but, I am in a fix, I don't know what to do. I am not sure what to do'.

In one sense, Sardar is the real urbanite, he refuses to be reduced in his identity, he is happy if his child just gets an education, but, the education system wants him to create an identity that he is neither clear about not wants to adopt.

I didn't have a suggestion for Sardar. Do you?

Someone teaching Traditional Sciences in Chennai

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??