A Madrasi's Musings

Champions Trophy - India-West Indies

2006-10-26T23:00:00.000+05:30

What a farce that match appeared. It seemed both teams were trying hard to lose. I can't believe that the weather conditions were so bad that it was either difficult to score runs or for the bowlers to bowl to a line. Before the start of the match, I had remarked that Agarkar would be the man of the match for the West Indies and quite true it turned out to be. Wonder why he is in the team, after all these years. But, the guy who deserves the biggest kick is Rahul Dravid. Still can't get over how he got himself run out. Must have got out in a similar fashion more than half a dozen times. One learns from one's mistakes. Not so in his case, it would appear. A captain should lead by example and his carelessness only transmits itself to others. Remember some time in the 1980s, Kapil Dev was dropped from the team because he got out trying to cut an off-spinner in a test match between India and England at Delhi. India lost the match and the captain was Sunil Gavaskar. At that time, Kapil's carelessness/recklessness was cited as the reason for him being dropped. Will the same logic apply to Rahul Dravid?
Let me add. I am not bothered by the result. In fact, I wanted the West Indies to win. This Indian team does not deserve to win.

Pachaiyappa's Hall - NSC Bose Road

2006-09-19T22:40:00.000+05:30

Posting two pictures of this nice building on busy NSC Bose Road -- one a vertical shot and the other a horizontal one -- just to give an idea of the tall pillars in the building and what use the building is now put to. This building, named after the philanthropist Pachaiyappa Mudaliar, is opposite the Flower Bazaar Telephone exchange. The Pachaiyappa's Hall was built in 1850. Numerous shops line the ground floor. If my memory serves me right, there is a restaurant too on the ground floor after one takes a long passageway. The shops and pavement hawkers of all kinds make access difficult.

Anderson Church - NSC Bose Road

2006-09-03T23:10:00.000+05:30

Standing at the corner of NSC Bose Road and Linghi Chetty Street is Anderson Church -- a pure white building with a nice steeple and bell tower. The church was built in 1859 as the religious edifice of the Madras Christian College School, which was once located in its vicinity. The church was named after John Anderson, a Scottish missionary and founder of the school. There is a plaque at the entrance to the church. Regular service is held on Sundays. The picture of the church was shot on a week day, in the afternoon. I was lucky to get a blue sky with a little bit of cloud cover. I was impressed with the bell in the church and hence decided to post that picture too.

General Post Office - North Beach Road

2006-08-27T07:57:00.000+05:30

One of the few buildings in Madras when conservationists successfully restored a heritage building, especially after it was ravaged by a fire. The GPO on North Beach Road, yet another of those impressive structures on this wonderful stretch of road, was destroyed by a fire caused by an electrical short circuit in October 2000. Unlike other instances -- notably the Spencer's building on Mount Road or the Moore Market next to the Central Railway station -- this building has been restored to its past glory. The full restoration work will get completed by 2007.
The GPO was completed in 1884. The halls inside are large and, according to Madras: The Architectural Heritage by K. Kalpana and Frank Schiffer, the "speciality of this structure lies in its varied roofs and long tiled gables placed parallel and perpendicular to each other, intercepted by dormers and towers of varying heights, the central ones reaching a height of 38 m."
I hope the series of pictures taken early on a Sunday morning do justice to the magnificence of the building.

State Bank of India - North Beach Road

2006-08-14T21:42:00.000+05:30

Going back to the old, majestic buildings on North Beach Road. This time it is the State Bank of India's building, built in the Indo-Saracenic style. Both S. Muthiah in Madras Discovered and K. Kalpana and Frank Schiffer in Madras: The Architectural Heritage say that this building was constructed by the well-known builder of that time, Namberumal Chetty. Work on the building began in 1896 and was completed at a cost of Rs 300,000! This building is truly majestic and the huge central banking hall (it has been some time since I have gone inside the building) is truly marvellous.
This was first built for the Bank of Madras, which later merged with the Bombay and Bengal Banks to become the Imperial Bank, to be renamed the State Bank of India in 1955.
The building is thankfully well maintained. Apart from a side angle of the building, I have posted one that shows the portico and the grand staircase.

Devaraja Mudali Street

2006-08-06T00:31:00.000+05:30

Ever wondered where the kungumam, manjapodi and assorted such items come from. Sri Vidya Stores in Mylapore, near the Kapali temple, is one shop. This row of shops on Devaraja Mudali Street, quite close to the Chenna Kesavaperumal temple, sells these items in bulk. The shop keepers, who include a post-graduate from Madras University who opted for the family business, have their own "factories," as they prefer to call them, to make the kungumam or manjappodi in the Kotwal Chavadi area. The second picture is more for the verandah on top, which, with its wooden railing, I found quite nice. Ideal place probably for a nice cafe, but for the heat and dust of Madras.

Badrian Street

2006-07-29T23:01:00.000+05:30

Badrian Street in Parry's is like any other street in the area. Crowded, cacophonous, narrow... Walking along NSC Bose Road towards the Flower Bazaar police station, it is quite easy to miss Badrian Street. It is almost bang opposite the Flower Bazaar telephone exchange. In this narrow and crowded street, business thrives and life goes on as usual for hundreds. It is the home for the retail flower trade in the city. The wholesale trade has shifted to Koyambedu, on the outskirts of Madras, but there are still some shops on Badrian Street selling different variety of flowers -- malli, kanakambaram and the like -- for the street-corner flower sellers to buy and thread them together.
Amidst this mix of people and smaller vehicles, a conservancy lorry crawls to the end of the street for the conservancy workers to clear putrefied flowers and leaves. And, amazingly the conservancy lorry driver backs out of the narrow street on to NSC Bose Road with barely an inch on either side -- all without hitting a pedestrian or knocking down parked cycles and other two-wheelers. That the same drivers turn out to be monsters on an open road is another story.
And, in this constant throng of people this woman carries on her work -- selling colourful tie-bags. This medley of Badrian Street is yet another in the series of pictures on Parry's.

Binny's building - Armenian Street

2006-07-22T23:32:00.000+05:30

Stepping away from North Beach Road this week. This is the Binny's building on Armenian Street, a majestic building and still in reasonably good shape, although Binny itself is almost non-existent. This building was supposed to have been taken over by a government-owned bank under a legislation that allows banks to take over properties if there is a default in repayment by their borrowers. Not sure what happened after that. The building, a big property, has a nice long verandah.

Metropolitan Magistrates Court - North Beach Road

2006-07-16T21:53:00.000+05:30

Posting two photographs of the Metropolitan Magistrates Courts on North Beach Road, quite close to the SBI building. One shows the front view of the buiding and the other the side view. This is quite a nice building, three storeys high with a mosaic of ceramic tiles on the front or the eastern face of the building. However, like most buildings occupied by the government or any part of the administration, this too is not so well maintained as can be seen from the posters pasted on the front, which mar the building's beauty.

Kalaai poosaradhu

2006-07-06T22:51:00.000+05:30

Kalaai poosaradhu... pathrathukku eyam... All of us would have heard this in our childhood in Madras (and, in other places too). There would be a middle-aged man walking with his assistant, invariably a small boy, shouting out these words looking for households that needed their brass vessels polished. The assistant would carry a small gunny bag with the working tools. And, as the man got about polishing the vessels, it would be the boy's task to keep stoking the fire. With cooking habits changing, you don't find brass vessels being used and hence don't hear these guys any more. Took this picture in Parry's, close to the intersection of Devaraja Mudali Street and NSC Bose Road some time last year. There are a number of shops that make and sell brass and other panchaloha items used in temples and for pooja at home. This was near one such shop.

HSBC Building - North Beach Road

2006-06-25T22:07:00.000+05:30

HSBC -- Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation -- tried selling this landmark building on North Beach Road in 2003, but did not find any buyers. It was hoping to get about Rs 9 crore for this Edwardian style building with plastered white walls, in total contrast to most other landmark buildings on the same road.
"Madras: The Architectural Heritage", an INTACH Guide, says this this building was constructed in 1923 on the site earlier occupied by the offices of The Mail, one of the earliest Indian newspapers, and which was an eveninger when it folded down.
Unlike this heritage building, HSBC was more successful with another property it owned -- a residential bungalow in the upmarket Boat Club area, which fetched the bank Rs 42 crore in an electronic auction conducted late last year.
The four-storey building has approximately 41,000 sq.ft. of built-up space on a 15,400 sq ft plot. HSBC wanted to move its operations to a larger buiding in a single location. A lot of back office work was being done out of this building and the bank found that the building no longer served its purpose and hence the move to sell it. The building's interiors have undergone a lot of changes although the exterior remains largely unchanged.
These pictures again were taken early on a Sunday morning and hence the absence of any vehicles.

Parry's

2006-06-19T22:30:00.000+05:30

With these pictures I hope to run a series of photographs or short pieces on Parry's -- that area just beyond Central railway station going right up to First Line Beach or North Beach Road or Rajaji Salai, as it known now.
This picture of a plaque that marks the boundary of the Esplanade is outside the Dare House -- headquarters of the Murugappa Group, to which belongs E.I.D. Parry, from where that old part of Madras got its name. The plaque refers to the Esplanade, by which name not too many people in Madras now refer to that area. The plaque is at the corner of Moore Street (or Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb Street, as it has been renamed) and NSC Bose Road.
Parry's thrives with life and still remains a place where you can get anything you want, although there are many other places in Madras now where you can get whatever you want. But, shopping in Parry's is still fun for those prepared to brave the crowds, the jostling and the lack of parking space. A number of stately buildings still remain in this area, some in good condition and many others in a state of permanent disrepair. Some fine buildings and landmarks have completely disappeared.
The Murugappa group has moved all its offices (after selling TIAM House, a short distance away on First Line Beach) to Dare House -- named after one of the partners of Parry & Co. Dare House, according to Madras Discovered by S. Muthiah, was built in the late 1930s and occupied in 1940. This rather modern day building stands at the corner of NSC Bose Road and First Line Beach, with entry and exit points on Moore Street also. This picture of Dare House was taken on a Sunday, which probably explains why there aren't too many vehicles or people to be seen.

The West Indies tour

2006-05-29T21:42:00.000+05:30

I was, I should confess, quite happy to see the West Indies beat India in the one-day series. The Indian team after a number of victories on sub-standard wickets had got around to the belief that it is the world champion and it is up to all the other teams to beat it to claim the World Cup! A bit cocky and over-confident, without any reason.
This victory still doesn't say anything much about the state of West Indies cricket, but, as Brian Lara said, they are back to their winning ways. Should wait and see how they fare against superior teams. This Indian team is a bit of a joke. There appears to be no one who is serious about staying in the middle and playing out the 50 overs. It is a miracle that the bowlers do get wickets at all. I would prefer to see Laxman playing in the team, not Ganguly.
Brian Lara, in his post-match press conference, has said that India is missing Sachin Tendulkar. Really? Should Tendulkar use his surgery and the extended recuperation as an excuse to retire from cricket? I, for one, definitely think so.

Peria kovil tower being cleaned

2006-03-30T10:27:00.000+05:30

Should this http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/28/stories/2006032804790500.htm worry us?
I always get worried when the ASI says it is going to clean up some monument or something like that. A recent visit to the Darasuram temple in Thanjavur where the ASI had plastered some parts of the temple during the course of its work proves my concern right. Even if the temple were left with the cracks, it would still look better. Anyway, take a look at the Big Temple tower here http://aarbalaji.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_aarbalaji_archive.html.

Parking woes in Madras

2006-03-27T22:08:00.000+05:30

This is a pet peeve of mine.
Just look at the roads, streets, lanes and by-lanes. All of them are full of vehicles of all shapes, sizes and colours parked haphazardly. Not a thought given to either the residents or other road users. It is quite easy to dismiss this as due to people being in a hurry. I definitely don't think so. A lack of civic sense is all I would say.
You will also find that none of the buildings which see a large number of public visiting them provide for any parking at all. "Visitors please park outside" is a board you would find on most of these buildings. Spencer Plaza -- the most-popular hang out joint in Madras -- does have parking space, but the whole thing has been designed so unscientifically that it makes getting in and out a pain.
The newest mall in the city -- Chennai Citi Centre -- had a board in the basement car park area saying that the parking facility has been designed or is managed by a Malaysian company. So what. With just a few shops -- Lifestyle, Landmark and a couple of others -- the car park gets filled up on a Sunday. Imagine what would be the crowd once the five-screen multiplex opens in the building. Vehicles would, as usual, be parked on the busy Edward Elliots Road (Dr Radhakrishnan Salai) or Hamilton Bridge Road. The mall's promoters had some time back stated that there will be slots to park 500 cars.
A couple of more malls are coming up -- one at the junction of Poonamallee High Road and Nelson Manickam Mudaliar Road in Aminjikarai and another on Poonamallee High Road in Kilpauk (where the Kushaldas Garden mansion that has figured in a number of films stood). Both these are to have multiplexes as well. A third mall that has been announced is on Nungambakkam High Road, diagonally across the Taj Coromandel, next to the Kothari building. Just imagine the crowd on NH Road once this is completed.
Unfortunately, none of the star hotels -- with the possible exception of Meridien -- has provided for adequate parking to take care of all vehicles in case there is a major event. Rain Tree on St. Mary's Road has appropriated the platform in its vicinity for parking its vehicles.
There have been proposals to come up with multi-tier parking slots in the city, none of which has materialised. Wonder why no one has thought of providing parking space as a business proposition. May be does not make business sense.
Builders blame the FSI (floor space index) restrictions as the reason for not providing adequate parking space in buildings. If that is so and if they are really serious about doing something for society, they should fight to get this changed rather than appropriate public space. A first step could be for the Madras Corporation to heavily tax those who do not provide enough parking space in buidings, both for their tenants and for visitors.
After all, managing parking is as much a science as managing traffic is. Sadly, both are in a mess in Madras.

TN elections

2006-03-07T21:51:00.000+05:30

The mercury has started rising in Madras, as also in all of Tamil Nadu. And, elections have been announced. May 8, just before agni nakshatram starts (am I correct?), we will go to the polls. What a time to have elections here. Anyway, how does it matter. At least the politicians will do all the sweating. Serves them right as they will then settle to enjoy the fruits of their toil, while the losers will get nothing at all and have to wait for the next election.
Jayalalithaa's dash versus Karunanidhi's arithmetic. Let's wait for the results.

Michael Holding and Sivaji Ganesan

2006-03-07T21:35:00.000+05:30

How much more unrelated can a topic get? That's what struck me after I finished keying in the title of this post.
Well, I have been thinking for some time that it will be nice if one of the sports channels telecasts a match where Michael Holding is at his devastating best. And, I had also been wanting to watch a Sivaji Ganesan movie. Last week, I managed to do both.
The Sunday before last, I was shifting through channels when I suddenly came across a cricket match being shown on ESPN or Star Sports, doesn't really matter which. It was the 1976 Oval Test between England and West Indies. And, what a match that was. Vivian Richards scored 291 and Michael Holding took 14 wickets for 149. Really made my Sunday. Michael Holding was superb. There was even a slow motion shot of his action -- this before the days when slow motion technology was not as advanced as it is now. What grace. No wonder umpires referred to Holding as Whispering Death. He really was that. Wonder how many of the modern day batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar included, would have fared against a rampaging Holding with Roberts and Holder to share the ball at the other end. Having seen that, the next dream would be to watch a Vishwanath match on TV, preferably his 97 not out against W.Indies in Madras or even his 114 at Melbourne against Australia when Lillee was going great guns.
Now coming to the second half of the title. I am a great fan of Sivaji and picked up two VCDs -- Navarathri and Andavan Kattalai. Watched and enjoyed immensely Navarathri (how many times earlier I have seen it I can't say). Without any excessive make up Sivaji makes each of the nine characters different, most often by his mannerisms -- a mere lifting of the eyebrow, or the swagger in his walk or appearing like a dandy... The best, of course, was reserved for the last scene when Savithri, another immensely talented actor, learns that the man she is in love with is the same person her father wants her to get married to and rushes to Sivaji's (her lover) house only to find that he is about to commit suicide. On hearing her voice Sivaji opens the door of his room and then comes the scene. In normal circumstances, at least in movies now, the lovers run into each other's arms -- wait a minute, run would be too mild a word to describe it. It should probably be jump into each other's arms. But, here Sivaji and Savithri eye each other from a distance as Sivaji lets a range of emotions pass through his face, before they hug each other. Then Sivaji does something that was, I think, quite unusual for those days -- pulls or tugs at Savithri's hair. What a movie and what an actor!

Hilarious

2006-01-30T22:06:00.000+05:30

If ever anybody is in need of some entertainment, do switch on to a cricket telecast which has some commentators from India doing duty, especially the likes of L. Sivaramakrishnan, Arun Lal and the guru of them all, Ravi Shastri. You might not be interested in the match at all but these guys, I promise you, will liven things up so much that you will become a cricket fan just to listen to them. And then there will be the guys in the studio analysing the game during breaks -- if it is Doordarshan, the panel will be extremely interesting. K. Srikkanth trying to look scholarly, Venkatesh Prasad doodling on a writing pad as if he is making some important notes to come up with his profound views, Mohinder Amarnath speaking half in Hindi and half in English. The list can go on.
The India Pakistan series now underway offers limited fun as only Arun Lal and L. Siva are on the commentary team.
Here is a gem from Arun Lal during the second test, which was a big bore as a match. With him in the commentary box at that time was Waqar Younis. Shoaib Akthar had just bowled a beamer at Dhoni, when Waqar said that was not a done thing. Arun Lal pipes in and says that probably Shoaib was trying to bowl a yorker and the ball slipped from his hands. To which, Waqar says that the way Shoaib gripped the ball was not for bowling a yorker and even this does not stop our resident expert (And Waqar was known for his toe crunching yorkers!). He repeats his theory that Shoaib was trying to bowl a yorker and the ball would have slipped. And, goes on to add that the ball could have hit Dhoni anywhere, on his face, on his eyes, his teeth and so on. I wonder where the eyes and teeth are for Arun Lal, if they are not on his face.
L. Siva is another act. His voice will rise in excitement and you would immediately look up to see if something has happened only to be disappointed. When Kamran Akmal hit a century, this guy comes out with a profound "They stand up to celebrate" when the Pakistan team rose to applaud the wicket keeper batsman. And, when Kamran Akmal hit a lovely offdrive, this guy says he has a few hundred fans now and will have a few million in a few years.
As I said, Ravi Shastri is the guru of them. Unfortunately he is not there doing the commentary now. His favourite when anybody hits a boundary is that "went like a tracer bullet". Wonder where he picked up that from? When a Kumble ball went down the leg side beating the batsman and the wicket keeper, Shastri came up with this rather ingenious and wonderful "that took off like a Jumbo Jet". The ball had shot through without rising much!
Shastri is at his rapturous best when the great Sachin Tendulkar is at the crease. Once when Sachin had hit a boundary on the off side, Shastri could not contain himself and after waxing eloquent about the little master, said he beat seven fielders on the off side to hit that four. But, the seven fielders were spread out from Third Man to Long Off. I wonder how a batsman, however great he is and even if it is Sachin, can beat all of them with one stroke. I am told Shastri has a great fan following. Cricket writers of the past (who unfortunately still continue to write) like Raju Bharatan (and I think K.N. Prabu too) rate Shastri so highly as a commentator. Wonder how they make their assessment. Probably because Shastri is from Bombay!!!
Long Live the Indian commentators. They make even the dullest of matches like the one at Faisalabad interesting. May their tribe increase.

The services sector in India

2006-01-17T21:40:00.000+05:30

The growth of the services sector in India is one thing that constantly amazes me. I wonder how and why that happened. For, we are not a nation that is known for the quality of services provided. By services, I am not restricting myself to just the IT and IT enabled services sectors. I am referring to the whole gamut -- petrol stations, departmental stores, restaurants and what not.
Just step into any departmental store or any one of those swanky eating joints that seem very popular with the younger lot. At these eating joints, you are greeted with a perfunctory "Have a nice day, sir" and with that ends all semblance of nicety. It is a fight afterwards -- to order your food, get back the correct change. Most places, the biggest culprits being the petrol stations (which must be making a lot of money this way), short change you. They conveniently round off the bill to the nearest half a rupee -- say, if the bill amount is Rs 24.25, it gets rounded off to Rs 24.50, this on the billing machine -- and after that the person at the counter further rounds it of to make it a whole number, in this case Rs 25! No explanation offered. It is taken for granted that you do not mind losing the 75 paise. It is another matter altogether that you cannot get anything with 75 paise. But, the point is that being service providers it is their job to give back the exact change or at least have the decency to inform you that they are running short of change. Uniformly, every establishment is guilty of this -- there was a leading department store in Chennai that used to give its "patrons" chocolates in exchange of one rupee of change that it was supposed to return. Another, a leading sweet meat shop, would round off the bill saying that the money would go to charity! Who are they to offer somebody else's money to charity.
Not one of them even thinks that giving back the exact change is their duty, as they are the service providers.
I remember the autorickshaw and taxi drivers in Bombay giving back change -- that too they used to go by the meter -- some years ago. I don't know if they still do, as I am sure tales of their counterparts in Madras would have definitely influenced them!
If this is on small change, step into any of banks or offices that have a large interaction with the public. Invariably, the people posted at the front desk or at the counters in banks (the private sector banks are the most guilty on this count) speak in a language that sounds foreign to you. Something about you pay peanuts...
Or, at the agency that handles the visa applications for a number of consulates. The waiting hall will be crowded and there will be only one person at the counter, when there are seven counters, and one at the enquiry desk. Probably the consulates themselves demand only this kind of service.
It is because of all this, I am convinced that if the services sector in India is booming, as we constantly read it is, it must be only because we are bloody cheap and nothing else. Or else, do we have two quality levels in services too, like we had for manufactured goods in the 1990s -- a good one for the export market and a not so good one for the domestic market?

Drive-In

2005-12-29T22:21:00.000+05:30

Woodlands. Woodlands Drive-In. Woodies. Drive-in.
So many things in Madras have changed and continue to change every day. Not this place on Cathedral Road. It still remains the favourite haunt of a whole lot of people, including myself, almost all of them in the 30s and more. The younger lot is no longer to be seen here. The "jolluvuttifying" crowd has now grown up and the "kadalai podara" crowd frequents Barista, Qwiky's, Ispahani Centre, Spencer Plaza and what not.
The drive way to the Drive-In remains as bumpy as ever. Cars are parked as haphazardly as ever. Waiters take their own sweet time -- at least one thing I appreciate them for, they don't distinguish between a guy who drives into the place in a swanky Benz or the guys who pedals in on a rickety bicycle. Both get the same treatment, which cannot be said of a whole lot of other business establishments. The first thing guys at these establishments -- restaurants or shops -- do is to size you up and assess how important you are as a customer. Their treatment towards follows their assessment. Not so in Drive-In. The waiters also are not bothered if you have come there for just a cup of coffee or for a whole tiffin.
It still serves, in my opinion, the best dosais, masala dosais, bondas, Pongal/avial, curd vadai and of course, the sambar. One only wishes that they change the flooring, provide new wash basins and clean them at frequent intervals daily. You can still see the cat waiting under your table for a morsel or, if you are lucky, catch a glimpse of one scampering across the hall with a dead rat in its mouth.
PB Srinivas is still a regular, coming in around 2 p.m. and occupying a table for a couple of hours everyday. If anyone feels like chatting him up, he welcomes that. If you are lucky, he will even sing a few lines from one of his hits. Otherwise, he is content reading his papers and writing down songs.
Thank god that Drive-In has not yet become a concrete jungle taken over by somebody like Saravana Bhavan. I hope that doesn't ever happen. I also hope that the Woodlands management refurbishes the place without changing its character. Still a great place to meet up and chat. No one is going to bother you if you don't order anything at all.

Tsunami - A year after

2005-12-26T05:50:00.000+05:30

It was exactly a year ago - December 26, a Sunday - that we along the east coast of India woke up to a horrible tragedy and a new word -- tsunami -- entered our lexicon. Till then, we were at best used to cyclones crossing the coast. How could the beloved Marina do this, was probably the question on most people's lips after the enormity of the tragedy had sunk in. Only later were we to realise that the tsunami had struck from Indonesia and moved west wards leaving behind a trail of death and destruction.
Boys playing cricket on the beach, regular beach walkers, tourists who had come to catch a glimpse of the beach that they had only heard about and, of course, the fishermen were all affected. Cars - sedans, hatchbacks and what not -- damaged. I am sure each one of us can recollect, if not first hand, at least experiences narrated to us by others.
The city was back to normal the next day, the administration -- after an initial slackness -- responded quickly and the general public added their bit.
Of course, there were those who seemed to be having a good time on the beach after the waves had receded. A whole lot of yuppies were seen getting themselves photographed with their mobile phone cameras with the destruction in the background, while a number of hooligans went about hitting people just for the heck of it.
And, then there were the satellite television channels and newspaper writers who started using the word tsunami to describe anything -- the fight between the Ambani brothers, for one!
A year after, the tsunami remains a great tragedy and obviously provides enough opportunities for politicians to criticise each other. Not even a tragedy of this dimension can shut them up.

Ganguly is back

2005-12-24T22:47:00.000+05:30

Three cheers to all those who protested Ganguly's exclusion from the team. He is back for the tour to Pakistan. And, the chairman of the selection committee Kiran More says Ganguly was selected because of his experience in playing tests and Kaif was not selected because of his lack of experience in playing test match cricket.
How true. Makes you wonder why Ganguly was dropped in the first place for the Ahmedabad test. As if his experience in tests was not required for that match. How honest Kiran More has been when he said that Kaif was not selected for his lack of experience. Would More care to explain how a player like Kaif can have experience in playing tests when he is not selected at all. It defies all logic. But, that is what the selection committee and the selection process are all about.
I have nothing against Ganguly nor am I a fan at all. I have always thought that his achievements were hyped up. I didn't think too much of his abilities as a batsman. Apart from that cover drive and a loft over long on in small grounds, there is nothing much you could talk about. Strange for a left hander, as they are known for their repertoire.
Anyway, this is not to discuss Ganguly's batting prowess at all. It is to recllect how often the selectors prove how true what Mohinder Amarnath said long ago when he was dropped from the team. And, imagine bringing back Parthiv Patel. Would the selectors at least care to explain his selection and why Dinesh Karthick was not selected. And, what about L. Balaji's exclusion from the team?
Jagmohan Dalmiya and the Left politicians from West Bengal must be the ones having the last laugh. Yet another victory for the Left, I suppose. How they managed to whip up feelings.
And three cheers to Sharad Pawar, the consummate politician. Is there anybody who believes that he did not influence the selection process? The BCCI might have got new office bearers and the newspapers might have reported that Jagmohan Dalmiya's stranglehold over cricket administration in the country has ended. But, in the end it is quite apparent that he continues to pull strings, directly or indirectly.
Poor Ganguly. He is not in the team now for his cricketing abilities -- at least for the Delhi test against Sri Lanka , Kiran More said he had been selected as a "batting all-rounder". Now there is no such attempt. Experience, is the reason that has been given. Good luck to him and thanks to Ganguly for proving to all cricket lovers what a game of politics cricket is. No wonder politicians want to discuss cricket in Parliament. When selectors take over their job, what will the poor politicians do?

What a tragedy

2005-12-18T21:56:00.000+05:30

Over 40 people were killed in a stampede in Madras when they had gone to collect flood relief doled out by the Government. This is the third such stampede since the Government started giving flood relief -- a dhoti, sari, some rice and (I suppose) money too. Only this time, the toll is much higher. As usual, the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu will call for Jayalalitha's head and the Government will order, what has become by now, a statutory enquiry. Probably more people have died in the stampedes than in the rains. What is it that makes us want to stand in long queues, unmindful of the heckling and jostling just to collect something given free by the State? I am sure at least half the people standing in such queues can still live without collecting relief. The political parties believe in treating us like beggars and we too are quite happy to be just that. That's the real tragedy.

Another Sting operaton

2005-12-13T22:06:00.000+05:30

First the disclaimer - I didn't watch the satellite on which it was telecast (or for that matter any other channel that carried the sting operation as a news item) nor am I holding a brief for the MPs.
I wonder what the channel in question was trying to prove. Sting operations are losing their novelty value and are no longer stinging. Apart from the parties concerned and Parliament taking notice of it, I doubt whether the general public would be interested.
The most interesting part of this post - wonder when the other estates (assuming the media is the fourth estate) and the general public decide to do sting operations on the media!

Natwar Singh goes

2005-12-06T22:02:00.000+05:30

Natwar Singh has quit. And, he says he is quitting not because he is guilty but because he does not want to be the reason for Parliament getting stalled!!!

The Volcker Controversy!

2005-12-05T21:47:00.000+05:30

Is it about FDI in corruption?

BCCI Elections

2005-11-30T05:26:00.000+05:30

More on the theme of elections. This one for the BCCI. What a high profile and high voltage one this turned out to be. Going by the coverage in the media, one would assume that the BCCI elections decide the fate of the country. Probably only the Bihar elections got more footage or more column inches of space. What is in it that a senior politician -- Sharad Pawar -- gets into the fray and a guy like Dalmiya wants to control affairs, of course through a lackey of his. One cannot expect any overnight change in the BCCI or the way cricket is run in the country. Will the new set up really do something for cricket -- improve facilities at grounds, spend more money on the game rather than on themselves, develop more grounds especially in the secondary towns and things like that? At last that guy Dalmiya and his bunch is out, hopefully.

Bihar elections

2005-11-24T05:41:00.000+05:30

Bihar has finally voted and what a result it has turned out to be. Lalu will no longer control affairs in his home State and he can contend with doing it in Delhi, and, of course, troubling the new government in Bihar. High time he was kicked out. It is also time the others called his bluff. Pity that when you describe yourself as a secularist, anything else goes.

A wash out and a farce

2005-11-23T23:03:00.000+05:30

Wonder whose brainwave it was to hold a match in Madras during the North East monsoon? Must be the power politics within the BCCI that Madras got to host the third one-dayer between India and South Africa at the peak of the monsoon. And, sure enough the match got washed out completely. I wonder whether the BCCI will ever become transparent and explain its decisions. Unlikely, as it is sitting on tonnes of money and the august body would not like its decision-making to be questioned by anybody.
If the BCCI is probably the most opaque organisation, the selection committee is -- as Mohinder Amarnath described it some time back -- a pack of jokers. How else would one justify Ganguly's inclusion in the team for the first test as a "batting allrounder". When was the last time anybody recollects Ganguly performing anything near to being described as an all rounder. It sure gives a new meaning to the term allrounder. The selection committee would have thought that the protests would have intensified in Calcutta and there would have been a problem in playing the fourth one-dayer and hence might have decided to include Sourav in the team. If that were so, the team's composition could have been announced after the match. What a farce this whole selection process is.

The Kushboo controversy again

2005-11-14T22:04:00.000+05:30

Just when everything seemed to have quietened down on Kushboo's remarks (on women having pre-marital sex), the controversy has been kindled with Suhasini speaking in support of Kushboo and even daring (in the words of supporters of the two political parties in question) to raise her voice against the leaders. Suhasini even went to the extent of saying that it is the Tamil people who should apologise to Kushboo. Expectedly, what followed were protests by women's wings of the Pattali Makkal Katchi and Dalit Panthers, the two self-styled parties spearheading a movement to protect Tamil and Tamil culture. The TV clippings of these protests were vulgar to put it mildly. How come all the left liberals, the ones to always protest such "attempts to throttle free speech" are keeping quiet?
In the midst of this comes the launch of a portal -- http://www.karuthu.com -- that promises to be a platform for free exchange of views. This is what it has to say: Karuthu is a non-political organization. Karuthu does not have an opinion on its own; nor does it reflect collective opinion. This is a forum for people to express their opinions in a decent manner. Karuthu is not constrained in any manner by religion, caste, creed; nor is it shy of any subject. Politics, Philosophy, Contemporary understanding of History, Social Issues and all matters may be discussed here. One may also take a contrary view. The only requirement is that there should not be any personal attack.
The recent efforts of some persons in Tamil Nadu to repress cultural forms, creative literary works and society's expressions cause a deep sense of anguish and concern.
First, restrictions were sought to be imposed on what creators should write, and how they should handle it. Later, efforts were made to chain artistes by raising artifical barriers in the name of language, culture and race. Such attempts are now raising their ugly head in all activities of society. Some tend to flout even the elementary norms of decency in expressing opposition to certain views.
Political and social organisations have attempted to broadbase their own views on culture, propriety and lifestyle and impose them on society, and there is a clear danger of trying to project such views of a limited section as the consensual views of society as a whole. We have begun to enter the gates of fascism by seeking to crush the views of a minority in the name of majority view. The throats of those seeking to differ from the opinions of this so-called majority are being throttled.
Self-styled protectors of culture are indulging in moral policing, trying to use violence to put down those who hold divergent views and creative ideas and expressions. Those crushed more by this repression are the youth, women and creative forces.
It is impossible for any society which seeks to crush these three sections to exist or flourish in a healthy manner. That is why we have formed this organisation called 'Karuthu' (Views) to oppose this repression.

The most interesting aspect that this portal has been launched by Kanimozhi, daughter of M. Karunanidhi, and Karti Chidambaram, son of P. Chidambaram.

One of my favourites

2005-11-08T22:10:00.000+05:30

There was a pair of them in a casuarina grove on the way from Rameswaram to Dhanuskodi. One of them took off gracefully even as I tried to park the car and photograph them. This fella waited for three frames before taking off to join the other. Couldn't sight them for a full hour after that.

Crazy!

2005-10-22T23:38:00.000+05:30

I heard from someone that the CBSE (yes, Central Board for Secondary Education) has said that it will no longer cut marks in answer sheets if students make mistakes in spellings. How much crazier can they get? I wonder why they want to play around with education? Can you imagine the possibilities of wrong spellings (intentional or otherwise) and the havoc it can create? Trying to get hold of the news link.

Monsoon in Madras

2005-10-14T21:35:00.000+05:30

I wonder whether any other city would welcome the rains as much as Madras does, never mind the added chaos on the roads. Water logging on the roads, potholes developing into craters, schools declaring holidays and, the most important, low pressure in the Bay. May sound like newspaper headlines, but that is what rains in Madras are all about. Yet, they are most welcome. Gives us a break from the sweltering heat. One only wishes that the motorists also become a little saner, at least during the monsoon. They insist on defying all forms of sanity.

Cuckoo!

2005-10-08T08:32:00.000+05:30

One can still hear the wonderful cries of the Cuckoo in Madras during summer. However, the other bird that was found all over the city -- the wonderful, twittering house sparrow -- is hardly to be seen anywhere now. With the open spaces and gardens in houses giving way for apartment buildings and office complexes, the more powerful pigeons have taken over the space occupied by the sparrows. This picture of a pair of cuckoos was taken on a typical Madras summer morning.

An intellectual grasshopper!

2005-10-01T22:10:00.000+05:30

Found this passage from the James Cameron book "An Indian Summer" very interesting. I am sure all of us have found ourselves feeling like Cameron quite often in our life:

Talking to my cousin Anand was like talking to a highly educated three-year-old child, or perhaps an intellectual grasshopper. It has always interested me that the Indian people, who can produce yogis and mystics capable of meditation for weeks on the precise nature and configuration of their own navels, can produce such huge numbers of people totally incapable of concentrating on anything whatever for twenty seconds at a time. Anand is such a one - charming, well intentioned, enthusiastic, volatile.

Unconnected?

2005-10-01T22:05:00.000+05:30

A few unconnected events show up Madras for what it no longer is and what it has become. Kushboo is criticised for voicing her opinion about women having pre-marital sex. A perfectly harmless view to hold, one would have thought. But, not so, decided some others. Protests and what not followed, forcing Kushboo to cut short her holiday and apologise -- to whom and for what nobody knows. Action is taken against a star hotel for photographs of a private party held in its premises that were published in Tamil newspapers. How the photographer gained entry into the party in the first place no one knows. A college pulls up a student for not adhering to its dress code and a university decides what its students should and should not wear. Wonder if there is a common thread running through all these. And, why are a vast majority of Madrasis keeping quiet? As usual. "Madras Nalla Madras?" (Remember the 1967 film Anubhavi Raja Anubhavi, in which Nagesh (?) sings this wonderful song.)

Getting Started

2005-09-26T10:29:00.000+05:30

As the name suggests, this will be about nothing in particular. Very often, it will be more of rantings of a Madrasi than musings -- about the chaos on the roads, the weather, politics, cricket, photography, newspapers and what not. Quite often wonder why this great city has degenerated to what it is now -- people don't seem to have the time for anything or anybody. Every one seems to be in a tearing hurry, to do what I wonder. Traffic signals are flouted with impunity, every traffic rule is violated -- at least in this, the literate and the illiterate, the rich and the poor all behave in the same manner. And, like a typical Madrasi I do nothing about it. Wonder why?