Weddings and Videos

Videographers and their assistants – sometimes more than two pairs – stand in front of the dais where the marriage is being conducted, and manage to block everyone’s view of the proceedings. True, they have their job to do, and do it properly....

Recipe in Rime

Now add milk and then cream, till it's creamy,

Plus seasoning, till it's just right.

Then, lastly, asparagus pieces

And cooked chicken. The size? Say a bite.

Positives of Madras Day 2008

Murali must be in the Andamans now. He was transferred recently from his base in Chennai and I am sure he is going to miss this city.For, Murali was the sort of person who just could not miss an interesting city event....

The Mayhem in Orissa

The tragic events in Orissa reminded me of something that happened in 1986 on the eve of the Pope’s arrival in Kerala. I was present at a discussion about the impact the visit could have on the different religious groups in the State....

Obama’s 2008 DNC acceptance speech

Barack Obama is a good orator, he is only going to get better. The power he packed into his speech made a stunning impact on the over 84,000 people gathered at the stadium and on millions watching across the world.....

From Beijing, with Love

Word of Mouth

It is no surprise that word of mouth plays a major factor in the success of a product. Be it movies, restaurants, shopping malls, brand names, music, theme parks or be it anything, word of mouth surfaces and resurfaces time and again, putting the final zing thing in a person's mind....

Abirami Abirami

For the theologically inclined - you may recognize Abirami as the Goddess of fame at Thirukadayur - and the story of Abirama battar. The battar was once meditating, entranced by the Goddess in Bhakti.....

The Nandi Bull at Mysore

This statue is one of the largest statues of Nandi in India. It is 16ft. tall and 24ft. long, cut out of a single granite stone in 1659. This colossal idol of Nandi is on the 800th step of the hill...

At Oakland Zoo

A Blendly Note

It popped into my mind in a reverie
As I thought of my several BLog 'friENDS'.
So from now on whenever I think of you
I'll consider you all as my BLENDS.

Celebrating Madras Week

There are many nice little things that have happened because of 'Madras Day'. And as we launch into the last leg of the events, this has been a worthy effort.No, the city has not changed overnight.But small changes should take place....

Serene Symbiosis

AS my land lies torn in strife
From Kashmir down to South
Pockets serene still remain
Like Olavipe the village mine

Can be done

The company sold 50000 lamps and now plans to sell it in African countries as well. Won the Ashden award once. Looking at these companies, I get hope. Business can co-exist with environment. Business can co-exist with people. No business model is not impossible.....

Buddhadeb Bhattachajee stands up against bandhs

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has done something his friends and colleagues in the political spectrum, especially on the Left, should have done long back. Here is what he said at a meeting of Assocham in Kolkata yesterday: ”I’m against bandhs. Unfortunately I belong to a party which calls bandhs....

Back to Kuwait

Had a hectic vacation with a whirlwind of activities; 3 weddings included!I remember boarding Jet Airways and landing in Cochin and then it was all out of my hands until we boarded the same plane back to Kuwait. I guess all holidays are meant to be such. ....

Worldwide Photo Walk

Skillful Fingers

Any kind of sewing needs immense patience and concentration, not to mention good eyesight. My own acquaintance with needlework is limited to pedestrian and necessary sewing...

Wikipedia - World's Knowledge At Your Finger Tip

Just try to think of a single web site like Wikipedia.org, and you will fail. Because there is none. After all, where will you get a single point source of information on everything under the Sun, ranging from the topics like Adolf Hitler and Global Warming to the ones like "Dhaba" and "Chutney"?

Love to say its fake!

After many days, I finally had the chance to stage one of my fake rock climbing acts. This time I feel, it looks a lot more authentic with those bicycles in the background...

Shackles of another kind!

Our maid, Lakshmi was screaming at someone on the road. I peeped over the compound wall to see what the commotion was all about. On the road stood Lakshmi, arms akimbo looking at a very frightened girl called Maya. Maya works as a stay in maid in my neighbor’s house. Lakshmi had apparently caught Maya and a boyfriend...

At the Boomers

On a weekend when his mom was at work dad took Siddarth to the Boomers at Livermore. It is a place where adults become kids - playing video games, feasting on ice candy...

Paris in Springtime

So that , in 1979 , was my first glimpse of Paris, well longer than just a glimpse; in fact a good look that lasted as long as it took us to get to Orly from De Gaulle. Sitting inside an almost glass bubble like bus we were whizzed across the city...

Trees at temples

It's interesting to see the canopy of mixed foliage, and the different barks growing entwined from their respective roots. The pipal-mango combine is sometimes called 'Almavu'....

China’s formula crowned in glory

Curtains are finally down on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Like most previous editions this too was politically coloured. Much more than sports and the victorious athletes, China as a country has come up trumps on many counts.....

A Thought

radhe krishna

Chamundeshwari Hills

One of our favorite weekend getaways is Mysore. The city has still maintained its charm and boasts of various sight seeing places well maintained....

So... What are we waiting for ?...

Don't Ask!

So, being a biddable sort of child
(Well, be that as it may!)
I trained myself to bide my time
Till an offer came my way.

Back to Pondicherry

We were there during this transition period and were able to enjoy many music and dance performances. Concerts by great musicians like Madurai Mani Iyer, Alathur Brothers,....

Best description of India!

Mummy-Long-legs?

Tulasi is incomparable

Tulasi - the very name has sanctity about it. One doesn’t call it just ‘basil’ but Holy Basil. Ocimum Sanctum. It is a symbol of purity, divinity and health. Tulasi is believed to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and therefore incomparable....

Delhi: Jammin'

Delhi's public transport system has been in need of improvement since the 1970s, at least. Its buses have always been over-crowded, ramshackle, and irregular. ......

R K Laxman featured in Los Angeles Times

August 17 issue of the Los Angeles Times has a wonderfully written piece by Henry Chu on R K Laxman, India’s celebrated cartoonist. The introduction (what in journalese is called an “intro”) is a model for communication students....

Dollar Bahu

The English version is named 'Dollar Bahu'. This novel webs on the aspirations, dreams and struggles of traditional middle class Indian families. The crux of the story line rests on the promise of plenty that the US dollar holds for middle class Indian families and the price that people pay for a life in the US....

A Song on my lips

‘Kangalirandal, un kangalirandal’ - this is the song that is haunting me day and night now. And I can say it unabashedly. It is played daily on Vividh Bharati (the old faithful), and on all the Thamizh channels showing songs from new movies.....

End For The Musharraf Regime

He had tried his best to avoid it, and had successfully delayed it for quite some time. But at last Musharraf had to accept the inevitable – his ouster. With the threat of a disgraceful impeachment looming over his head, the embattled President announced his resignation in a press conference on 18th August, 2008....

Deception!

They'll recreate a scene
In which birds are flying overhead
As big as jumbo jets.
And cages big as hangars

Inside every blogger is an aspiring author

You discover that behind and beneath a book lying unbought and unread in a bookshop there is an entire universe of ambition, aspiration and frustration. So much striving; so little success; so much writing, so little printing...

The Quote Tag

The tag is called “The Quote Tag.” Now, tagging me with a Quote tag is like asking a mongaan irunna naayi about his problems....I love quotes!! And asking me to quote "only" 5 is like telling Paris Hilton to live on a budget!! This has to be the Height of Frustration for me!!....

Death of my laptop

My ageing machine, creaking at the hinges for some weeks, couldn’t take any longer the pulls & bangs, and the battering by nine-month old Nikhil.....

Learning Time

But what really struck me was his acceptance of everything- people and their customs and their habits and their outlook. While he was talking about people in the North east eating practically everything that moved including cats and dogs- I did feel a bit queasy....

Jammu & Kashmir — break with the past

Today it is “Jammu vs Kashmir”. I am myself using expressions like “separatists in Kashmir”, instead of “separatists in J&K”. I am making no effort to stop or correct my juniors; because times have changed. The reality, the ground situation is something different today......

Celebrating a city

What started out as Madras Day, August 22, has now five years later, become Madras Week. The concept of marking this event was put together by a group of writers and heritage lovers like S. Muthiah, Vincent D’Souza and Sashi Nair.....

Airlines’ petty business practices

An expert on consumer behavior, Prof. Banwari Mittal, is quoted as saying that passenger helplessness is widespread – ‘consumers will get angry when they find a target of retribution, which is a specific company or a person; but when it’s the macro environment, there is nothing to get angry at’....

Elephant eye

Watering your garden

Here's some tips for reducing your garden watering footprint - and to save some money on water rates at the same time. More...In Green living tips...

Hymn to the Sun God

Sun worship is an old tradition, that goes back to about 2000 BC. Descriptions of the Sun God in the ancient Vedic texts are awe-inspiring - they speak of the golden efflugent beauty of the Sun, riding a chariot drawn by seven white horses....

Cheers!

'Good grief!' I said 'It's Alice Dean!
I'd know her anywhere!
She's aged a bit and gone quite dark.
I think she's dyed her hair

"Can you play that again, Thunga?"

She taught me that while living in the fantastic world of books, I shouldn’t forget how beautiful the real world was. And slowly, time with her grew more enjoyable as she became my live television, updating me on every possible thing that had eluded my watchful eye. And then, she introduced me to music.....

Bangalore: Flying in, flying out

I landed at the Bangalore International Airport on Independence Day with a sense of anticipation. It was my first use of the new facility which is about 40km from the city’s Central Business District. There had been attempts to delay the opening of the airport through protests and court case.....

Weekend Colors...

Somewhere in one hidden part of Fraser Town is an ordinary place, by the side of the railway track called Pottery Town. Town is too big a word for it, as all it comprises of is a street that is home to around 35 potter families....

On the insightful commentary by DD experts at the Beijing Olympics

We have been watching with pride that great spectacle of sporting action, The Olympics. Currently being held at Beijing, an important research centre for the effect of smog on human endurance, one of the highlights is the Indian contingent, which has done more for international goodwill than any other country.....

A Long Wait

I trace the outlines of the shapes

And marvel as I see

The whole thing with my naked eye!

The lunar geography!

A Cyclist's Day

There was a group of about 30 bullets which zoomed past us at Ramanagara. The fellows were celebrating Independence day in their own way. Most of the pillion riders had an Indian flag...

Life, Universe, Everything.....

17th August, 2008, approx 3 AM and I'm doing some regular net surfing. I see an old college mate named Nilesh, online on gtalk and he has his status message as, "Why are we here?". Well, I saw this as an opportunity to have some 'deep conversations'.....

Milestone: Aug.2008

Nikhil completes nine months this Saturday. Big bro’ Siddarth is 32 months old. The day’s highlight was their bath. It is not as if they don’t bathe everyday. It was that the brothers took to the tub together....

Madras Day 2008 rolls

Is there someone who can help reach a Madras T-shirt to this diehard Chennaite in the USA by August 22?He mailed us this week and he wants to tell his world that Chennai is celebrating.Now this man is indeed a true Chennaite. And lots more will be happy to join the Madras Week celebrations.....

Star Struck

But to my credit, I very quickly decided against a story from the freedom struggle. Since both the players and the audience don't understand English, it would be wasting everyone's time. But it had to be in English since I was conducting English classes for them.So it became a medley of little vignettes- all connected together.....

Independence Day

Maami, the match maker!

Speculation and analysis fills the household as soon as people realize that there is a boy or girl of marriageable age. The mega event begins not just a day or two before the marriage, but months, sometimes years in advance, so that the best proposal is sealed.....

Varalakshmi Vritham

Small Change!

Does seven dollars count?
Have I now done my dash?
When I hoped to win the Lottery
I meant a LOT of cash!

Happy Independance Day

WE,
the People of India shall overcome
the bigots, separatists, communalists, terrorists,
regionalists, sycophants, the corrupt, the self-serving,...

Dance like this...

Dance is one of the simplest forms of communication and expression. Damn....or I shall replace, 'the simplest' for 'the most difficult'. Don't you often feel that words sometimes hide deeper truths that only the body can guess at, but when it comes to dance, it just flows like fluid?...

Another Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. Another one, sigh! More grey hairs, more wrinkles and more creaking joints. I was not sure I was looking forward to it.The day however, began with a lovely surprise. My mother had arranged for a bunch of flowers to be delivered....

Malayali’s best friend – The Coconut

What can a Malayali do without a Coconut? After all, it is the ‘Kera Vriksha’ of Kerala and some attribute the states name itself to the tree, but probably it is the other way round. Sept 2nd is world coconut day, did you all know that? And Tom Hanks made the nut popular all over again with his movie ‘Castaway’....

Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down ?

While making the regular weekly purchases of vegetables, I chanced on this brinjal. As I picked it up I felt the binjal saying ‘Thumbs up! Come on pick me up!’...

The Voice

As a child I had a beautiful singing voice.
It was so lovely that I was asked
To sing a special song
At the Chinese Olympics.
My parents were excited.
The whole village was excited.
And I was the most excited of all.

What are you doing on Independence day?

The un-encashed freedom cheque!

Yet another Independence Day approaches. We had a colorful celebration in the office today with competitions like, 'My Pod’ which is a euphemism for 'most distastefully decorated cubicle". People showed how (un)creative they were by decorating their work stations....

Giving your imagination a chance

I believe that a child’s imagination, in all it’s innocent glory is the most splendid thing on the planet. As I have said before, children can dream, dream without any sort of limitation or fear, and this makes their thoughts so original. As we grow up, our creative skills become atrophic,...

Train ride at Danville

They had the train at the park, all to themselves – Nikhil and Siddarth. And they played the driver, guard and passenger by turns.....

Thavamai thavam irunthu

And I thought that before we had grandfathers, brothers and cousins around the house who could be deputed to do these jobs. Now, with nuclear families we have to pay and find someone to do them We had Thatha, a gentle, kind man who could be depended on to escort us to libraries ......

Denmark has shown the way!

Political will alone is enough to bring about a positive change. This applies equally to economic giants and growing economies. Where one eagle eyes untapped oil wells as the solution for energy crises, others think that they should be spared the emission obligations because they are 'growing'....

Rains at Olavipe

Reunions

But food was only secondary that day to us, the years just fell off and to us it seemed that we were back in the grounds of Women’s College in Trivandrum, in the 1960s. Old stories were told and retold, memories rekindled....

Little known facts #1 - Modern History

According to this document, a page from the diary of one Mileva Maric, her husband Albert "Emceesquared" Einstein, suffered a nervous breakdown circa 1904. He was advised a rest cure and chose the tropical Portuguese dominion of Goa.....

Ms Page turns a page, at 93

Ninety-plus is an age when people get written off. Ms Lorna Page almost was, till her daughter-in-law stumbled on a sheaf of papers in her suitcase; found the stuff worthy of being published, and persuaded her mother-in-law to look for a publisher.....

Disappearance Of Hand Written Letters

Nobody has the time today to finish a letter and go to a mail box to drop it. It doesn’t burn a hole in the pocket to do it yet… the personal communication through snail mail is vanishing. Where are the greeting cards sent on birthdays and anniversaries?.....

Seajet News

Channel News Asia, a leading Television channel in SE Asia is doing a 13 part series called "High Life" and one of the segments is about my company. I hope at that time I'd be able to post video clips when it gets aired....

Electronic Barrier

'It's a beautiful day!' I brightly said,

Not original, but true.

There was no response so we simply stood

Silently, we two.

2 Millennia and a classical status

The Ashoka rock edict found at Brahmagiri (dated to 230 BC) has been suggested to contain a word in identifiable Kannada. The earliest examples of a full-length Kannada language stone inscription (shilashaasana) containing Brahmi characters with characteristics resembling those of Tamil....

Curtain Raiser: Madras Day 2008

The two were once linked by a bridge.Today, people who know call it the 'broken bridge'.Because it collapsed many years ago.Nature lovers head here to chance on seasonal birds.Photographers to shoot the setting sun.Couples to snatch quiet moments.....

Redefine fatherhood, Mr Yamada

"God made the world with towering trees,
Majestic mountains and restless seas.
Then paused and said ,"It needs one more thing...
Someone to laugh and dance and sing.

Coconuts

Coffee-house culture

I know of a group in New Delhi that dates back to my college days in the late 50s. Its venue has changed, more than once, over decades. So has its composition. Our New Delhi chat group meets nowadays at the Embassy restaurant in Connaught Circus...

A shopping we will go

Well, for the record, all the accessories, clothing and electronics that I have bought have all been online. So what do I have in store for you today? Plenty of shopping options from a new website....

Sakura flowers in Japan

Casablanca

Would they have lingered in our minds
For days and weeks and years;
Would their romance still have the power
To bring us close to tears;

Barnes & Noble bha-baa

From our place in San Ramon it is nearly half-hour drive to B & N Story time, which doesn’t last half this time. But it is a bba-baa (outing) Nikhil & Siddarth wouldn’t miss....

Kerala: Left Right and two steps backward

Kerala has made stunning progress in the fields of literacy and population control. These were achieved through awareness programs and not by coercion. In both fields the projects have reached self sustaining levels, a pattern where the vast majority of the people pursue the objectives automatically....

If You Are Afraid of Heights...

'If You Are Afraid of Heights' is a book of layered visual panoramas, non-geometric as it builds up, threaded using simple language. There are three different tales which are cemented using recurrent images of doll(s), red dress, a white and blue umbrella, Park Street.....

Ramanujan - The Hindoo Calculator

The book was a fascinating study of the genius of Ramanujan – whom the British press, called Hindoo calculator.....

Review of Kung Fu Panda – Haiya, cool!

Po seems a funny name for a Panda living in China, let alone consider Kung Fu as a passion. Well, Po is a dreamy young Panda whose ambitions are to become a Kung Fu expert, maybe even a master!

Through the Walls of...

Can you guess what the above shot is about? Yes, it is tunnel sort of thing… you can see the fields on other side… Any guess to what structure it can belong to....

The final innings

As I dutifully drove one such set of older people from one house to another, I was stuck by something. The older folks were a changed lot from their much younger version that I had seen when I was a kid. The years had smoothed away the rough edges, leaving beautiful people....

It’s fun watching them from afar

Every other day Siddarth and I walk to or drive past Safeway to see if any articulated truck has pulled in at the delivery bay of the departmental store....

Babuji's Ezharai Sani--Part iii

Madras in those days, that is, in the 1950s was a very laid back city, very quiet and peaceful. The roads were deserted most of the time. There were not even one-hundredths of the cars that fill the roads today....

Toyota Winglet

Check out this awesome video of a segway like vehicle from Toyota - they call it the Winglet. The video defenitely looks awesome....

LED

Our work too had a different direction apart from trees and we were concentrating more on that. Being an electronics engineer, new technology never fails to interest me. Not the Ipod type of technology. Rather, its the advancement in basic technologies that is more interesting. The incandescant bulb was created in 1879 and the technology remained the same....

Eclipse(d)

August 1 was the day of the eclipse. It was a partial eclipse here in Chennai, and was to be visible between 4.40 and 6 pm....

The Mummy Returns and Pulls Daddy's Legs

We've been watching a lot of TV at home these days, mostly a show called "Fear Factor". I have heard that they had a series specially for gay people, in San Francisco, but it turned out a bit differently. In fact, for reasons I cannot go into here, they're planning to call it the "Rear Factor". But the boys have been doing a bit of movie watching on their own....

Of Towers and Skulls

It is a nondescript little tower, built in the 30-year reign of the Afghan Khilji dynasty at the end of the thirteenth century. It is in the middle of a quiet residential area in Hauz Khas...

Arrested Development

I've fallen in love with this glorious creature!
So glamorous in every feature!
That figure! It goes in and out!
That face! That little rosebud pout!

Coimbatore's 88888 campaign

Coimbatore district Exnora has suggested that lights be switched off for 8 minutes at 8 pm on 08 Aug 2008. Small beginning, but commendable nevertheless.....

Peechappam a forgotten item?

How many people make peechappam (it may have other local names) these days? When I asked Velayudhan, our chief cook at Thekkanattu Parayil, Olavipe, to make peechappam, he had to think....

Life changing moments, really?

These moments, when viewing in retrospect, define whether we have moved well in time. Of course, whatever happens, we move ahead in time, but the way we move forward rests exclusively on these testing times...

Word of the week: quiztinct

"Huh?", it took Kat Nine, err, Sir Kat Nine, a couple of minutes to get his bearings right. The Queen's ceremonial speech had put him off to sleep and her tapping had woken him up. .....

Tree graffiti

Any tree-lover would be appalled by such defacement .....

Froggy Pond

This is the tale of Grandad Rob,
Performer of each menial job,
Who paid a brief hygienic visit,
And suffered embarrassment exquisite

Saturday’s soccer day

Siddarth was truly soccer-ready this Saturday, in his Lil’ Kickers’ blue. What’s more, he could even kick the ball.....

The African Tulip

The Big Banyan Tree of Bangalore

The Big Banyan Tree of Ramohalli, Bangalore is a favorite weekend haunt of most Bangaloreans. 28 kilometers west of Bangalore, it is very easily accessible by road, with clear signboards...

Citizen Journalism

But from now on, we will keenly encourage citizen journalism.Our mailboxes and trays are always full - invites, pictures, reports, attachments, promos, jpeg files . . .That is a given for a newspaper or a publication.We actively encourage people to report their events....

Going nuts - Exhibit A

I've just come across the sad story of a maternity hospital here having to turn away patients for want of experienced staff. Seems they're going through a mid-wife crisis. The management is to blame of course. The director of the hospital bought a large African parrot and one day it escaped from its cage....

Come Back Gigi!

Do you remember Gigi?
Do you recall her colt-like enthusiasm,
Her awkward grace,
Her charming innocence?

Travelling by bus

There is nothing quite like a bunch of college students travelling home by bus, gossiping their heads off about the new movie in town, blissfully unaware of where the journey will take them. There was a charm to that which I had forgotten to realize....

Grandson

The priceless - and the valueless!

Sorting household goods into 'retain' / 'give away' / 'recycle' heaps is therapeutic, I find. Unearthing this and that, from shelves, cupboards, niches beneath mattresses and old trunks, what do I rediscover?....

Photos of Olavipe Lake

Is ‘blogger’ male or female?

This is the kind of stuff that provokes blog posts. I read someone making a point that those raising this gender bogey should count themselves lucky that NYT covered their conference at all. That the newspaper did it in its Style & Fashion section was not lost on many others.....

Get a life

When I saw the book, 'Get a life' at a bookstore, the name itself admonished me, wheather to buy a copy, because the title sounded like one of those regular self-help books.

Terrorism Makes India Bleed Again

A bunch of “committed” and “dedicated” terrorists, “determined” to achieve objectives that only they can understand, came up with the “heroic” deed of carrying out blasts in the two cities located in two different parts of India, one being Bangalore in the southern India and the other being Ahmedabad in western India.....

Cabral’s hostages

Whatever happened to them? The quest for an answer proved to be a very interesting research and took all my experience from reading Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes in finally arriving at a plausible explanation.....

10 Steps to Keep Yourself Motivated

What about us? Don’t we too need motivation to surge ahead in life? Most of us are in such a stage of life that we seem to have achieved what we were aspiring for since we were young. Monotony has set in.....

What a Raquet!

On the tennis court,
If skirts were short,
The moral-police would say
'Please stop the game!'

Johnny Walkers!

A week ago, on July 11th to be precise, a piece of forbidden meat was found in a mosque in Bangalore. There was panic as news spread. Everyone expected the injured community to retaliate....

All for a swim, without getting soaked

From what I heard from his daddy Siddarth first swim class wound up with a treat – an ice-cream. That is what his dad had promised, if Siddarth stayed in water through the hour long session....