Fruits of Labour are Sweet - Thanks to Chennai Corporation Sewage department

Did someone say "Fruits of the Labor are Sweet - Harder the labour, sweeter the fruits"! - No one!, well, in that case, let it be yours truly..

For the past couple of days, Chennai has been receiving good quota of rains. After y'day's downpour many parts are flooded (As an aside, I find that there is a good amount of interpretation of difference between "flooded" in India and "flooded" in U.S.A - For e.g. while driving on U.S. highways if there is even a thin stretch of water that has not drained, a board "Highway flooded" will warn you, I've many times searched for the flood water in such cases.. In India, mostly "flooded" is used as a synonym for 'inundated'). Many parts of Chennai including the main G.S.T road was under a few feet of water for many hours.

Going back a few days, over the last week/10-days, I've been watching Guys cleaning up the Drains in the R.K. Salai. The stench was unbearable for the passers by. One can only imaging how it would be for the cleaners. The debris was being dumped on the footpaths and the roads and I thought "What a mess!"

Cut back to today, and after the rains, the Salai is so clean. Even after a few minutes of rains, portions of the road will be filled with water and Pedestrians would have to navigate a tight 3-way balance between walking on the dirty water, Getting water splashed on them by vehicles and walking on the middle of the road in the dangerous company of speeding vehicles.

But today the regular culprits like the corners next to Tafe, the entrance to Dewberrys' cafe, stretch near Citi center are so clean, that there is no water logging.

Appreciate the difficult, dangerous, dirty and nasty work done by the Cleanup guys. It has been their Labour, for us bearing the sweet fruits. Thank you lots!

Support for Anna Hazare in Chennai - Beach, Near Gandhi Statue

In Chennai, there was a candle light vigil today near Gandhi statue - About 500+ supports had turned up and were enthusiastic in voicing their opinion against corruption.

From Citi Notes

Programs/events in Chennai:
Morning 9 to evening 5 - Prayer meetings in Thakkar baba school, Venkatanarayana Road, T.nagar (Near TTD )
Evenings 6.30 to 8.00 p.m. - Candle light vigil near Gandhi statue ,Marina beach.


Coordinator contacts for Chennai
Venkata Narayan Krishnan 9940066327
Venkata Prasad 9382525222, 9500032718

To find contacts for Anna hazare support in your cities, check out http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/citycontacts.php

Reference websites
http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/
www.annahazare.org

Bhagavata Mela - Rukmini Kalyanam, A fantastic treat

Normally I am not one who has opportunities to view art, theater, performances etc., so it was a pleasure when I got the good fortune to witness the dance drama "Rukmini Kalyaman" in Karnataka sangha school auditorium on 29 Dec 2010.

The drama was presented in a unique form called "Bhagavata mela" where a fixed set of stories from Bhagavatam are being enacted in the traditional form over many years (More about Bhagavata mela @http://www.bhagavatamela.org/)

The event started with some details about Melattur Bhagavata Mela and its unique properties. (Melattur is a village near Thanjavur and this art form is being practised only in about 5-6 villages around Thanjavur). The songs are sung in Telugu (as written originally many decades ago) and all artists are amateur male artists.

The dances follow a method in which each character was introduced by performing a traditional dance routine and then the drama unfolded.

Totally the dance drama was for about 2.5 hours (seems it is a smaller edition for city). The dances and the sincerity from the artists was just amazing. The singers were prefect to the last beat and the dances were graceful and beautiful.

The best part was by Rukmini, the grace, dance and the makeup was amazing. The emotions, pathos and the dance movements were so real that after a point in time, it was very difficult to remember that it was a male artist performing the role (Most of the audience felt the same)

The artists included doctors, bank officials, retired Government officers, Engineering college kids and like.

Though the event was free, there was sparse audience (about 50 in a room capable of 900+ seats). Kudos to Sponsor who helped in bringing such an art to the city and Kudos to the artists and their hardwork.

Would have been great if some of the portions were explained a bit more for the audience, but that was a minor glitch which I am sure they'll overcome in coming events.

All in all it was a great event as I got to see a theater at work and I wish the team a big success.

Vegnation in Thiruvanmayur - Please do better!!

Went for lunch@Vegnation y'day. Had seen an article in Hindu a week back that has praised the outlet and has been waiting to go there.

The ambience is pretty good.

Had tomato Soup, Mutter Makkai masala, schezwan noodles , veg kadai.
The tomato soup was okay - Not fresh and the bread crumbs were over fried (smelt of oil)
The Makkai masala was good - Nice Paneer and tasty
Veg kadai was a let down - Seems Frozen or Canned Peas,beans were used - Atleast they tasted like that. Mainly the beans were horrible.
The schezwan noodles was spicy and good

Tried to round things off with nice Desserts - Strawberry mousse and Sizzling brownie - Both were not available! and the choice was Chocolate mousse and a Chocolate pastry.
Both were big let downs. They were not fresh and not too tasty
Mainly my nephew slumped on seeing the plastic mousse container - The photo showed a nice chocolate wrapping for it. (Even the name board outside shows the mousse in a wonderful chocolate wrapping -So much for advertisement)

Even after the Ordinary lunch, a wonderful dessert would have lifted our spirits.

Vegnation - Please do better. Atleast for the cause of having good vegetarian restaurants around.

Beauty and the beast

This is a lake present on the bypass road between Velachery and Pallavaram. The water, greenery and the cranes were beautiful

Check out what is behind – Beast of a garbage dump!

Fast Track - Sudden increase in rates w/o announcement

Have been a regular user of Meru in Bangalore as their service is pretty good and decent. Found a similar service in Chennai "Fast Track" - http://www.fasttrackcalltaxi.in/
Booked a taxi from home to Airport on 20th Feb - The agent conveyed that rates are 100/- for first 5 km and 12.50/- for each extra km. and specifically mentioned to pay the meter rate only.
When we reached the airport the meter was at 170.
Had to travel to the airport again on 28th Feb (after the budget ). This time the agent did not say anything regarding rates.
After a few kms I saw that the meter was at 120 (instead of 100) and was running at 15/- km. When I reached the airport the meter stood at 205.
When I checked with the driver he gave some unclear reasons about night rate (infact this trip started later than the earlier trip) etc. After questioning that only a week ago I travelled at 15% lesser rate, he was okay with me paying the old rate itself.
Seems after the budget, Fast track has silently increased the rates or extended the night timings. Seems a unethical slight of hand to me..

Indian airlines defies time, cheats and gets away with it

If you are booking flight IC971 from Chennai to Mumbai - read this!
I booked a tkt on IC971 from Chennai to Mumbai - scheduled departure from MAA 7.00 a.m. If you search in IA site- you will see that the scheduled departure is 7.00 a.m.
Once I went to the airport, the IA staff told that the flight is rescheduled to 10.00 and if required I can get a full refund. Well, I had to book another ticket on Jet Airways as the matter required some urgency.
The IC971 left by around 9.00 a.m.
Later I found out that the flight IC972 from mumbai to Chennai is "Scheduled" to arrive at 8.50 - i.e its regular expected time is 8.50 a.m.
Since IC972 is the one returned as IC971, and its scheduled arrival at chennai is 8.50, how can IA sell tickets for 7.00 a.m and put customers to hardships?
Did any of you face the same issue or am I missing something?

Copper chimney in R.K. Salai - Good taste, decent service.

Went to copper chimney y'day with my cousin and had a couple of veg items.
The place is spacious and service is pretty good. Price is equivalent to other similar level restaurants - For a 2 person veg food costs around 400/person with starters and main course.

The only delay was a 10 min time in bringing the bill.

ETWOW in Chennai - Very Good and short.

http://etwow.in/

Watched the show y'day. Very good show. 8 teams of artists from different coutries (russia, france, hungary etc) provided some tricky and dangerous entertainment.

• Started with two acrobats doing some major balancing act - A test of strength and balance. Some of them were too good. As a climax one artist balanced himself on one hand, which was placed on the head of the other - Amazing stuff
• The mono cyclist was a joy. He had a glee while doing his tricks, did some interesting ones including jumping from one Mono cycle to another and also doing some highjumps. How he is able to land perfectly on the pedals of a moving mono cycle is a mystery.
• The man on the german wheel was great. Skirted too close for comfort when he reached the edges of the stage.
• The hula guy was just too quick. The speed with which he was able to switch the hulas between his neck, waist, legs and hands was in flick of the eyes.
• The 2 skaters put on a sensual act (or tried to). The stuff was pretty dangerous with the lady's head inches off the trampoline bar. It was too fast, too quick and dangerous. The music for this piece was slightly jarring - with a kind of eerie feel.
• The 3 young girls from Russia were extremely flexible and strong. Nice music and nice work
• The statue show was from a person from France. The timing was very good and the fun element was nicely presented about the two statues coming to life and interactive with each other
• Finally was the laser show. The guy was able to bend light in many diff ways, did a great work in splitting, joining and making very diff shapes and the timing was perfect with the music
  Overall a mini and quick version of Cirque de soleil - http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/default.asp
  The only problem was the timing of the show. It was too short and in some cases the artists were there only for 7-8 mins. It seemed as though they were rushing out. I was expecting a break at 1 hrs and 15 mins. I did get a break of course, coz by that time the show itself was over.
  For sure, the could have timed it better to give a more wholesome and satisfying experience
  
  Music Academy seating is great,the view is just great as you can see the stage and artists very well even from far seats.
  
  Great artists. Great show. Slightly low on the value for money

The Extra terrestrials in Chennai - Don't know to pick up phone?

In the ET movie, the key part is played by a phone call (an inter galactic one if you prefer to see that way)

But the organizers of the ET show in Chennai (http://etwow.in/ticket.php) seem to have forgotten the trick of the trade.

The phone number - 9380514803 mentioned in the site just plays a "Reliance jingle" and shuts off

Kinda spoiling ET's reputation I say - What say you?

Sony Center in Anna salai - Do they need customers?

Went to the Sony center in Anna Salai (Near Shanthi theater) the other day as I needed a memory stick for my new Sony cybershot.
First, there is a guard in the front, who doesn't care to even open the door.
Once inside there were a cpl of people (none of them customers), talking to themselves as I walked all around the shop looking for the memory card.
I found it in a wall, unscrewed the holder and removed the card and went to the billing person who was busy watching T.V.
Had to disturb him in order to confirm whether the stick matches my camera and to bill for the same.

Sony Center - Anna Salai, Chennai

Don't think this sony needs customers as they are busy with themselves.

What do you think?

Rain in Chennai

Today morning started with typical weather in this time of year. Slightly cold, but one could feel a bit of perspiration. Immediately talks of "Sweat has started already" started in the hot, hotter and..... Chennai.
It was a pleasant surprice when the clouds opened up by about 7.30. I always love the rain - feel it is kind of a cleanser, cleaning the whole city and making this look bright and shiny.
It rained pretty well (Atleast in south chennai) for about 30-45 mins before Surya came and showered his blessings.
It was great to see leaves glistening and school children enjoying the pleasant surprise without care about getting wet or spoiling their school uniforms
I am sure everyone will enjoy the rains, if only cities have a better way of managing the after-effects. For that matter, same with the snow - It is so beautiful/Magical while it snows. The only problem I have felt is if you have to step out in the slush post the snow.
I think as a development of human index and to make life better, Cities should take up managing these aftermaths better. Will definitely be a great boon for the public to be able to enjoy these magical moments.