ஓவியர் மதி அவர்களின் “அடடே” புத்தக வெளியிடு நேற்று மிக பிராமாண்டமாக “Music Academy"யில் நடைப்பெற்றது. இந்தப் புத்தகத்தை வெளியிடுபவரான எனது நண்பர் திரு.பத்ரி சேஷாத்ரி அவர்களின் அழைப்பில் விழாவிற்கு சென்றிருந்தேன். இப்படி ஒரு பெரிய விழாவைத் திட்டமிடுவது, இவ்வளவு எண்ணிக்கையில் இத்தனை சிறந்த முக்கியஸ்தர்களை சம்மதிக்க செய்து அழைப்பது, கடைசியாக அரங்கம் நிறையக் கூட்டத்தை வரவழைப்பது என்பது மிக மிக கடினம். எங்களது புத்தக (லிப்கோ) நிறுவனத்தில் எனது தந்தையின் இது போன்ற உழைப்பை நேரில் பார்த்தால் எனக்கு இந்த சிரமம் நன்றாகத் தெரியும். இவ்வளவு பாடுப்பட்டு  மிக சிறப்பாக செய்ததற்கு எனது நண்பர் திரு.பத்ரி சேஷாத்ரி நிச்சயம் சந்தோஷப் படலாம்.

It has been more than 2 decades since I have been to a Stadium to watch a cricket match live, the last time was during my School Days that too only once and I remember it vaguely . So yesterday when I went to MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk, Chennai) with my son to see the match it was pure fun. I didn't want to go through the parking hassles so I left my car in a relatives house in Royappetah and went to the stadium in an Autorickshaw - a wise decision that helped us to reach to our seats by start of the match at 8PM. The atmosphere was dynamic with popular Tamil film songs playing for every 6 runs, 4 runs and during breaks. The stadium was packed with people everywhere - all were enjoying themselves, cheering the entertainment below by waiving, dancing, playing music & whistling. We got good seats in Gate 13 (T-3) area which was right in front of the pitch and with an excellent view.

The match was played between the home team "Chennai Super Kings" (owned by India Cements & captained by M.S.Dhoni) and "Mumbai Indians" (owned by Reliance Industries and captained by Harbhajan Singh in absence of Sachin Tendulkar).  My home team "Chennai Super Kings" won the match by 6 runs which was largely helped by the superb batting performance earlier by the pair of ML Hayden (Australia) and Suresh Raina (UP, India). Captain Dhoni came in during last few overs but entertained the crowd with his few hits to boundaries.

Everything was great during the match, except for the main scoreboard being updated poorly and for the hot Chennai summer weather. After few overs of second innings it was getting late and becoming unbearably hot, so we had our dinner in the MCC club below and returned home to watch the remaining overs in the comfort of Air Conditioning in our house . Will I do it again, certainly "Yes" for another IPL/T-20 match but next time not during the summer.

Today Tamilnadu CM was inaugurating at 5PM the Phase 1 of the mega bridge in Chennai Katipara junction on the way to Chennai Airport.

I went to Bangalore for a Morning-Evening trip today by flight and landed in Chennai around 6:30PM. My father gave me an idea to avoid the traffic jam at Katipara due to the event on my way from Airport to my house in West Mambalam - it was to take the local electric train. I did just that just, walked across the road from Airport to Tirusulam Station (I didn't know the under-pass was already opened today) bought a ticket for Rs.4 (unbelievable) and got down in West Mambalam. Took an Auto from there to my house paying Rs.25. The whole trip from Airport to my house took less than 25 minutes and I saved myself the hassle of waiting in Traffic Jams. The last time I travelled in Chennai electric train (though I more frequently travelled by train than now during my school/college days) was few weeks back when I came back from Bangalore by train, landed in Chennai Central and then taking the electric train from Park station to Mambalam.

These two trips set me thinking into the usefulness of several new bridges coming in Chennai including the recently opened Kodambakkam/Mahalingapuram bridge.  I am seeing the fact that over bridges don't help much other than employment to hundreds of bridge workers in short term - they simply move the traffic bottleneck from place to another. It is an established finding now around the world that the real solution is to build more of mass transport systems including Trains in more routes, Buses and to educate people on the advantages of using them. The next step will be to make it convenient for people to convert to these public transport by providing Air Conditioned Trains, Buses & Terminals, easy access to the terminals including underpasses & escalators, common smart card based ticketing systems for an integrated system (bus, train, metro) in the city. If you are not convinced travel to Singapore (or) London and use their public transport for few days.

Hope our policy makers are thinking on the same lines.

I have travelled in Chennai ECR road several times, but not even once I have stopped to go inside the Crocodile Park which is there. Today being a Sunday I was thinking of a place to take my son out and came up with this place. Though I have seen Crocodile parks in many zoos around the world, my only recollection of seeing them in Chennai are in my school days at Guindy National Park. So it was exciting for me as well to see them in Chennai

Madras Crocodile Bank (as it is called) is located 40 km from Chennai city (or 10 Km from Mamallapuram) along east coast road with the Bay of Bengal as a backdrop. We started off from my home around 3:30PM, reached 15 minutes to 5:00PM. The park is open till 6PM, so we spend nearly an hour going around the park. I was expecting a small collection of Crocs, but was surprised to find they have hundreds of them and of many species. The place is also quite spread out and neatly maintained. The Entry fee for Indians - Adults (Rs.30), Children (Rs.20), Still Camera (Rs.20). The place is worth going with your kids.

Dakshina Chitra

Last year or so, again one of the Sundays I went with my family to Dakshina Chitra. This is also in ECR Road about 21Km from Chennai. This is a cultural village that have replicas of South Indian Houses, heritage items, etc. replicating the cultural settings. All 4 southern states have presence here. I found it to be interesting for the first visit. If you want to learn about South India this is a must see place.

Few weeks back I got a phone call in my office number from some holiday club in Anna Nagar claiming that I have won for a free couple pass for holiday in their resorts. I was surprised for one that I am normally never lucky to win anything in a lottery and second I didn't remember entering any draw. On being asked the lady said that the draw was done on purchases made in shops (Nalli, Pothy's, Saravana Stores) in T.Nagar during the holiday season. I started to get suspicious (which I often do get) because I had not shopped in the mentioned shops recently, so I said I will send a messenger with my signed authorization so that they can handover the prize. The lady refused and insisted that I come in person with my wife to collect it. I said I will and disconnected the call, didn't think it was worthwhile to go all the way and that was it.

Yesterday in Suriyan FM Radio, the DJ announced that a recent con plot going around the city was doing exactly this. They call people to say they have won prizes, when they visit to collect it, brainwash them to buy useless items (or) strong-arm to make them part with their jewels and valuables. So Chennai residents be warned don't get fooled by the lure of prizes for competitions you never participated.

இன்றைய தினத்தை மத ஒற்றுமை நாள் என சொல்ல வேண்டும் போலிருக்கிறது. இன்று அனேக மதத்தினரின் பண்டிகைக்கள் நடைப்பெறுகிறது - இஸ்லாமிய மிலாடி நபி, கிறுஸ்துவ புனித வெள்ளி, இந்துக்களின் பங்குனி உத்திரம், வட இந்தியர்களின் ஹோலி. உலக ஒற்றுமைக்காக நாம் அனைவரும் பிராத்தனை செய்ய இதுவே சிறந்த நாள் போல்.

Yahoo! seems to be working overtime to complete as much as they can before the (almost) inevitable takeover from Microsoft. This week they released the first meaningful (and hence useful) map service for India. Earlier none of the three (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!) had any useful data on India for maps. I read in blogosphere that Google was active in data collection by sponsoring with mapping instruments and paying volunteers for plotting Indian cities. That's about it. Now Yahoo! Maps for India seems to have beaten the other two by significant points. Go check it out.

I was impressed by Yahoo! maps features like Auto Fare, Walk the Route and above all "Vernacular" languages. I got a beautiful and correct directions in "Tamil" from our Habibullah Road office to Lakshmi Colony office in Chennai.

Y.Gee.Mahendra's UAA has released a new tamil play (drama) called "சுதேசி ஐயர்" (Sudeshi Iyer). The first show happened yesterday in Bharat Kalachar and today there was shows in Rani Seethai Hall. Seeing the banner near Duraiswamy subway yesterday, I went for the third show of the play today with my family. It was advertised as "சிரிப்போ சிரிப்பு, புதுமையோ புதுமை”, but my expectation was limited due to previous experiences with plays.

Fortunately, it turned out to be true, the play was certainly hilarious and enjoyable. Worth seeing. The story was not much, a 70 year old Swadeshi type Father wants to teach his family the illness of deteriorating value system in the materialistic world now. He takes them in a time machine to 1945 and the family gets to experience the world and value system in 1945, gets to see Mahatma Gandhi and they realize their mistakes. All this is told in a very hilarious and filled with jokes. My 4-1/2 year old son and my 75 year dad both enjoyed the play, that I guess speaks for wide audience satisfied by the play.

Does a city need so many FM Radio Stations all playing the same music?. In Chennai there are currently 8 major FM Stations:

1. All Indian Radio Rainbow
2. Suryan FM (Sun TV Group)
3. Radio Mirchi (Times Group)
4. Big FM (ADAG Group)
5. Aahaa FM (Kumudam Group)
6. Radio One (Mid-Day)
7. Hello FM (Malaimalar Group)
8. Radio City

The license issued by government prohibits them (other than AIR) from broadcasting NEWS, but that doesn't mean they can't play different music. All the above 8 channels (again exception being AIR) play only latest Tamil Film Albums. Each of them have few slots for other types of music but even that is miniscule compared to their overall Tamil Film programming.

Though I don't listen to Hindi or Telugu film music, I am wondering who will cater to those diaspora living in Chennai or for that matter Tamilians who are interested in Hindi Music. All the channels are same, with similar sounding RJs blabbering, SMS Polls, talk shows, etc. in between the same music collections. Why is there no niche stations playing different genre of music - say one for old Tamil songs, Carnatic Music, Western classical, Hindustani, Hindi Film Music and the likes.

If you have an idea why this is not happening, I am interested in reading your comments.

I finally finished reading the book "It happened in India", the reason I am saying finally is because that I have been reading this book for nearly 2 months but managed to complete the last 30 pages only today. The book is kind of an auto-biography of Mr.Kishore Biyani on the story of Pantaloons, Biz Bazaar & Central retail stores.Let me say at the beginning, I am a little biased in favour of Indian success stories - apart from being an Indian, the reason is because I feel there is a dearth of good books on Indian business stories.

The first thing that you notice when you pick the book is a close resemblance of the title It happened in India with Made in America (Sam Walton's classic book). When you start reading you will continue to see the unmistakable resemblance in the presentation format as well. The chapters are presented in a fashion of first person voice intertwined with quotes from various stake holders (business partners, employees & friends of the author). While reading the first few chapters this resemblance put me off a little as I thought Kishore Biyani had nothing original to say. Only after I finished nearly half of the book I realized how mistaken I was, the chapters starting to get interesting and the experiences outlined are very much India specific and original. Definitely Kishore Biyani and his team have to be congratulated on their exciting journey in the world of Indian retail and for brining many of the now common innovations. I was happy to read in pages 116-199, Kishore Biyani quoting Chennai's own Saravana Stores as the inspiration behind their Big Bazaar venture. He writes on how his team camped in Chennai visiting Saravan Stores every day for weeks in understanding their merchandise mix and pricing. The book tapers off towards the end where the author starts talking about his personal philosophies & beliefs on business.

Overall, a good book to read at an attractive price of Rs.99 (~USD 2.5)

I have been a member of an organization called INFITT from its inception around 2000. INFITT (International Forum for Information Technology in Tamil) a global, non-governmental, non-profit organization registered in California, USA. In Tamil known as "உத்தமம்" (உலகத் தகவல் தொழில்நுட்ப மன்றம்). Its main objective is to promote Tamil computing worldwide by bringing together professionals of Tamil IT, enthusiasts, Research Scholars and ordinary Tamils, so that Tamils can enjoy the benefits of all IT developments natively in Tamil environment.

Over the years I have participated in various working groups and activities of INFITT. Last year I was nominated as Chair to WG02 (Working Group 2 working on Tamil language related items with Unicode) and as Interim Vice-Chair. I am happy to write that now in 2008, we have successfully completed our elections at all levels (General Council and Executive Council) in a professional & transparent manner. I am honoured by the members for electing me unanimously to serve as their Vice-Chair for the period 2008-2009. I would like to thank all the members and Chair Dr.Kalyan for this honour through this post.

தமிழ் மையம் என்று ஒரு தன்னார்வ நிறுவனமும் (அந்த நிறுவனத்தின் ஆதி மூலம் நமக்கு இங்கே தேவையில்லாததால் அதை விட்டுவிடுவோம்) தமிழக அரசின் சுற்றுலா மற்றும் கலை வளர்ச்சித் (ஆம் இந்த துறைகள் கூட தமிழக அரசிலுள்ளது என்று நாம் இந்த நிகழ்ச்சிகள் மூலம் தான் தெரிந்துக்கொள்ளலாம்) துறையும் போன வருடம் முதல் ஆண்டுத்தொரும் நடத்தும் திருவிழா சென்னை சங்கமம். அதற்கு அழகான தலைப்புக் கொடுத்துள்ளார்கள் - திருவிழா உங்கள் தெருவிழா.

சென்னை சங்கமம் சென்னையிலுள்ள பல்வேறுப் பூங்காக்களில் பொங்கல் நாட்களையொட்டி நடைப்பெறுகிறது. அழிந்து வரும்  கிராமிய கலைகளான - நடனம், தெருக்கூத்து, நாடகம், களரி, இசை, பாட்டு இவைக்களுடன்  இந்த ஆண்டு  கிராமிய/மாவாட்ட உணவு வகைக்களையும் நகரமக்களுக்குக் கொண்டுவரும் நல்ல முயர்சியாக இது எனக்குத் தொன்றியது. அதலால் நெரில்காண  இன்று மைலாப்பூரிலுள்ள நாகஸ்வராவ் பூங்காவில் நடந்த நிகழ்ச்சிகளைப் பார்க்கப் போனேன். அரசு நிகழ்ச்சியென்பதால் அமைப்பு சுமாராக இருக்கும், கூட்டமே இருக்காது என்று எதிர்ப்பார்த்த எனக்கு இரண்டிலும் மகிழ்ச்சியான ஏமாற்றம். நிகழ்ச்சி மேடை மற்றும் பூங்கா சுற்றிடம் (மக்கள் அமர வசதியாக ஜமாக்களாங்கள் கூட போட்டு வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்தது) அழகாக அமைக்கப்பட்டு நல்ல முறையிலிருந்தது. முட்டி மொதும் கூட்டமில்லையென்றாலும் ஒரு நூறு பேர் மேல் வந்திருப்பார்கள், நிகழ்ச்சிகளுக்கு அவர்களிடம் நல்ல வரவேற்பு.  ஒரு பூங்காவிலிருந்து இன்னொரு பூங்காவில் நடக்கும் நிகழ்ச்சிகளைப் பார்க்கப் போக பஸ் வசதி கூடச் செய்யப்பட்டது மகிழ்ச்சி. பாராட்டுக்கள்.

தமிழில் வெளிவந்த நகைச்சுவை நாடங்களில் மிகவும் பிரபலமாக கருதப்படுவது அய்யா... அம்மா... அம்மம்மா...

என் சிறு வயதில் சென்னை தொலைக்காட்சியில் முதல் தடவையாக பார்த்ததில் இருந்து என்னை மிகவும் கவார்ந்த மற்றும் ஒலிநாடாவில் (Audio Cassette) பலப்பல முறை நான் கேட்ட நாடங்கமும் இது தான். ‘கிரேசி’ மோகன் எழுதி காத்தாடி ராமமூர்த்தி நடித்த இந்த நாடங்கம், இதற்குப்பின் தமிழில் வெளிவந்த அனைத்து நகைச்சுவைப் படைப்புகளிலும் (சினிமா, நாடகம், கதை) தனது தாக்கத்தை பதித்துள்ளது. பிற்காலத்தில் ‘கிரேசி’ மோகன் எழுதிய பல பிரபலமாக நாடங்களில் அவரையும் அறியாமல் சிலயிடங்களில் இதன் துனுக்குகளை நாம் கேட்கலாம்.

ஒலிநாடாவில் மட்டுமே வெளிவந்த இந்த படைப்பு இப்பொழுது ஓளிதட்டு (VCD) வடிவில் வந்துள்ளது. போன வாரம் Landmark கடையில் பார்த்தவுடன் இதை வாங்கியதில் (ரூ 199) எனக்கு மகிழ்ச்சி. ஒரு சிறு ஏமாற்றம் இது சென்னை தொலைக்காட்சியில் வெளிவந்த காத்தாடி ராமமூர்த்தியுடன் டெல்லி கணேஷ் மற்றும் பலர் நடித்த மூலப்பிரதி அல்ல சமீபத்தில் பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டது,  

இருந்தாலும் இந்த நாடங்கத்தை இதுவரைப் பார்க்காதவார்கள் உடனே இந்த ஓளிதட்டை வாங்கிப் பார்க்கலாம்.

The other day I was in Landmark (Nungambakkam High Road Branch) and saw the largest collection of Original Tamil DVDs and VCDs from Moserbaer and other manufacturers. It was several hundreds of movies spanning last several decades of Tamil movie including those released in last few years. Before this the largest such collection of original Tamil movies I have seen only in Singapore Serangoon Road (where VCDs are priced at SGD 10 and DVDs at SGD 20). In Landmark that day for instance I bought காக்க காக்க DVD at Rs.49 and வீரா, குரு சிஷ்யன் DVD combo at Rs.65.

After several decades, Tamil Film Producers & copyright owners seems to have come to their senses. Instead of fighting piracy they seem to have realized making their recent and old assets widely available as Discs in affordable rates will bring a new revenue stream for them. Just like T-Series in early 80's brought out affordable Cassettes and pioneered in India the original music market, Moser Baer seems to have now done the trick for VCDs and DVDs by bringing out original discs at Rs.39 and Rs.49/-

This is yet another post on Chennai's traffic. Traffic in T.Nagar area is becoming worst day by day due to the bridge constructions.

Every month TiE Chennai conducts their monthly events at 7PM mostly at Hotel RainTree, St.Mary's Road. I don't attend every month, but whenever I attend I get stuck bad in traffic and go late. I leave my office (Habibullah Road, T.Nagar) around 6:15PM and reach the venue around 7:15PM or so, though the actual journey shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes. I have tried all the different (so called side roads) routes but of no use, either I get stuck at Pondy Bazaar/Mount Road junction or at Vijayaraghava Road/Mount Road junction and so on.

Today I decided to brave it out. I left office at 6:30PM, went through Panagal Park, Venkatanarayana Road, Nandanam Signal and believe it or not, I reached the venue at 6:50PM. And this at the peak time driving through two of the Chennai's renowned traffic choke points. I am now more than ever confused on the routes that take less time in Chennai.

I had a small accident with my car of 6 months a Honda City ZX GXi today. Thank god, no one was hurt and more important only my car got damaged. It happened while I was driving and about to stop for the Traffic Signal to take the Right Turn in Mount Road/South Usman Road junction.  My son was sitting next to me and was constantly asking me one question or other, there was an Ambassador coming from behind trying to go straight and honking nonstop. Disturbed by the horn sound, distracted by my son's queries I turned back, and the next moment my car banged into the Mahindra Jeep in front of me which had stopped for the signal. The front of my car got hit badly but we felt no impact in the passenger cabin. Since it was my fault, I apologized to the other driver and came home feeling bad for driving carelessly. I am sure Honda will charge me a minimum of few grands of rupees to fix this, let me check with them!

Being a Sunday I took my son to see the normally huge Ganesha that will be kept near JYM Mandapam in T.Nagar for Vinayaga Chathurti (Yesterday). Unfortunately this year they don't have one huge idol, but many smaller Ganesha's. Not wanting to disappoint my son, I took him next to the display at "Sri Krishna Sweets" shop in Pondy Bazaar, where 2500 Vinayaka Idols are kept. I was told these are from the personal collections of the Proprietor of the sweet stall.

Thanks to flyover (bridge) constructions in T.Nagar and Kodambakkam, the roads here look barren now. The few roads in Chennai that had trees for over half-a-century included North Usman Road and G.N.Chetty Road. Sadly all of those trees have been cut down by Corporation in the last few weeks. While driving I noticed the diameter of the trunk of some of the fallen trees, they should be more than 5 to 6 feet each. I was feeling sad to see them vanish. Isn't any way to save them and still construct flyovers? 

Chennai (my city) proudly celebrates its 368th Birthday today. It was on this day on 1639, a British East India Company officer bought a strip of land and the city was born. I am proud to be a Chennaite - Happy Birthday Chennai!

TiE Chennai usually brings practitioners & champions of Entrepreneurship to speak about their story in its monthly sessions. Recently it brought out one such session (29/06/2007) by the 2003 women entrepreneur of the Year Ms. Hemu Ramaiah, CEO of Landmark.

Hemu Ramaiah, who needs little introduction, shared her truly inspirational entrepreneurial journey especially the challenges & triumphs in setting up one of the leading and famous bookstores in India - LANDMARK. I have recorded my notes taken during the session as a PDF document here (352.53 KB)

Expecting rains today we (myself, wife and kid) decided to spend our sunday evening today we decided to go to Spencers Plaza. On nearing it the sign in entrace said "Parking Full". I was sure it will be the same scene in Chennai City Centre, so we decided to drive somewhere. I remembered the recently beautified Haddows Road Park maintained by Chennai Corporation. Though we had doubts whether it will be open at 7:30PM, we gave it a try - and glad we did that. The park was beautiful, clean (surprising for a Corporation Park in India), well lit and was spacious enough for jogging and walking. It had a tiny play area by kids - could have been bigger but something is better than nothing.

The sign in the entrance said the park is open from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. So next time you find yourself wanting a peaceful place to go in Chennai, give this park a try.

The Park on Haddows Road is further down from Shastri Bhavan on the opposite side.

Very recently Chennai Traffic has become a nightmare. From anywhere to anywhere during day time nowadays takes nothing less than 45 minutes. Today I started from Asian Printers (near Royappetah Hospital) at 8.15PM and reached my house at West Mambalam at 9.15 - can you believe it, it took me 1 hour for a journey that should've taken me 15-20 minutes even during peak hours. I was spending nearly 40 minutes of this around Panagal park. It is the scene everyday and Chennai Corporation doesn't seem to be doing anything about it, though they made empty announcements. Media is abuzz that the reason why nothing is done around Panagal Park is due the undue influence of all the commercial establishments there, who don't wish the problem to be fixed. If the problem gets fixed it will mean people spending less time through the area and eventually less business. I don't understand the logic, if you solve the traffic problem here, you will have more people coming and hence more business. But who said everything in India and our politicians do things with logic.

Instead of this location Corporation is going ahead with building flyovers (bridges) in all the wrong places. I don't understand the need for building a bridge near Vani Mahal. Anyway's, the point of this post is why on earth anyone will begin work for two bridges at the same time on roads with traffic going in the same direction. I am talking about the Kodambakkam High Road/North Usman Road bridge and GN Chetty Road/Thirumalai Pillai Road (Vani Mahal) bridges here. Both roads take traffic from Panagal Park (and the surrounding areas) to Gemini Flyover (Anna Salai). Since both the bridges are being built at the same time, both the junctions have got the whole carriageway to single lane. Instead it would have been better planning to take one work after the other. May be the government wanted to complete both the bridges before their remaining 4 years in office

I have got some photos taken during peak hours in both the junctions, see them below:

In India, everyone likes to think the rich culture and close-knit families gives people the psychological cover to handle modern day stresses. This is believed to shield Indian (and Asians) societies from growing menaces of Gun shooting in schools, Sexual Harassment of kids, etc. which have now become repeated occurrences in the western world. Critics have said that, in this connected world no society can completely protect itself from these menaces - and in India though Sexual harassment of kids happen they go unreported due to community fears and pressures.

Recently (about a week or so back) I learned the news of a shocking incident that happened in a Chennai School, which was covered up and went unreported in any