A brilliant piece of prose on News Today. About Chennai.


"....When everyone's favorite pastime was chanting mantras and learning to play the veena. When a visit to a temple preceded any activity of the day and an outing meant a time to spend with the family on the beach or at the park. When women graciously performed household chores in their dainty Kancheepuram sarees while children boisterously played in their colourful pavadais and shorts. When snack meant uppma and a glass of buttermilk. But now things have changed dramatically. Chennai is slowly losing its true identity to modernization and western mentality. "

Mantras?? Veenas?? When the heck was that?? Ive been there from 1983...dont know a mantra/never seen a veena(not if you include that History teacher in 10th).


"...'There was a time when directions were given based on the number of temple towers on the way. Now, unless we go close to a temple, we don't get to see its gopuram,' says Ram Gopal, a non-resident Indian, based in Connecticut, USA. "


Ya sure...that was a time when you had to go to "Connecticut,USA" to find decent work. The other option was to work in the PWD dept. till hell freezes over!! When you had to watch Oliyum Oliyum on Friday and then go to sleep!! Golden Era, indeed!!


"...Dosas are replaced with pizzas, idly with burgers and murukku with french fries. Restaurants offering a variety of international cuisines have given way to pastas and stew, instead of sambar and vadakari. Gone are those days when the sumptuous pair of masala dosa and Kumbakonam degree coffee was available in every corner, when idly can be had all day through accompanied by a wide variety of chutneys. 'I am surprised to note that bhavans, that use to serve only typical south Indian dishes, now offers pizzas and french fries too. Not to mention, a wide variety of burgers,' says Pramila, a British national of Indian origin."


NRI's, a simple request:DONT COME BACK! And even if you did, please dont give interviews.It only gets worse....



"To the young people of Chennai, dressing in western clothing may be cool, but according to Padma and Mohan, a couple who have lived in Canada for more than a decade, it is disheartening to see young women wearing skimpy skirts and sleeveless shirts. 'It's just not in our culture to flaunt the female body', they pointed out. Even the usual elegance in saree is lost when it is worn with spaghetti straps and haltered backless blouses, the wife commented. "

Now we know that these are NRI's-who-dint-get-any!!!


"What happened to the ties that use to bind families together? The ties that use to gather them all in the house for an evening puja after the daughter comes from her bharatnatyam class and the son arrives from his carnatic music session with the master. "

Hmmmmm.....


The article only illustrates the NRItis disease that has been afflicting our cities in the last few years....it takes a lot of funny forms--"you ppl have cell-phones???", "oh that phone is not analog *grin*"," oh you've been to a KFC??"...or it can take the form of crappy career advice(however well-meaning) that is out of place in the Indian context!!!



I have a cousin and a bunch of friends in the US now, and all of them want to come back. My advice to all of them:Dont be like this when you grow-up!!!

Hello ppl...the deafening silence on the blog was not without reason. Me and a couple of my friends bought some champagne, some "white substance", mixed the two of them and drank it. Ofcourse, this caused some nausea and a few deaths on the side. Heck, you know what the most interesting sub-story in this whole mess is? Apollo Hospitals' Narco-analysis-cover-up-muck-up.Apparently they dint put a unit next to the quantity of narc-substance. Hmmm that reminds me of my rather glorious past, studying physics and chemistry in high-school. I was always one of those 'Apollo Hospitals Doctor type' who ALWAYS forgot to put the unit-gram,mg,kg-next to the quantity being measured. Pleasantly surprised to know that some of the "merit" docs and I share the same malaise.

In other news ,Ive been elected as a Vice-President in my company. Naah, not VP-Corporate Affairs, but VP-Education at the company chapter of Toastmaster's International-a rag-tag grouping of wanna-be Presidents and Vice-Presidents. Election process was a sham in itself-you cant beat a Dravidian in any election. Taking a cue from Big-daddy, I promised 10hrs of work every week for the club. Hehehehe....they bought it!!!

But seriously, I am looking to develop the chapter into one of the better ones in Hyderabad. Apparently Infy Toastmasters was a failure. Not surprising considering that they were all IT Types. It is kinda tough minding a group of 30 over-grown,over-fed IT Types all of whom suffer from a healthy dose of ageism(ask me), xenophobia(ask me) and sexism(ask the only female member of the club).

Apart from the "leadership" opportunity(and a bullet point on the resume-which is what all of this is about, really), I am seriously looking to improve my communication skills. I would give myself a 7 on 10. Just have to move from "good to great"...whatever that means.

So if you are a Toastmaster or know someone who knows someone who slept with a Toastmaster, then drop a line. Cos as the guy who is supposed to "design and co-ordinate" the curriculum, I know next to nothing about this!!!