We where at the entrance to Kamaraj Arangam on Mount Road. We spent the next 3 hours in the auditorium witnessing the happenings! Not sure, I enjoyed the discourse thoroughly as I had gone with a different expectation in mind.
The programme was to begin at 7pm and the parking was almost getting full even at 630pm when we reached the venue. As we reached the steps leading to the auditorium, we noticed a mad rush towards a corner! What else....advertisement samples of filter coffee by a company...will any Chennai-ite shy away from a dose of hot coffee anytime of the day/night....!
We had 2 passes arranged by a cousin, so we walked straight into the auditorium and got seated. The program began at 7 on the dot. I knew the pattern from having watched some shows on TV, but didn't expect an hour long session of songs followed by the discourse. Although I did like some songs and got involved in bakthi cult, for most part, Bala and I were observing what the crowd was doing!
One elderly gentleman had vowed to catch the attention of the cameraman and was jumping about in his place to the beats of the songs every now and then. The moment he got a glimpse of him on the screen, the movements got more wild and then he would be seated. I could'nt believe someone could do such stunts to appear on TV. After all, who is going to remember ur face....as if u were Rajini or Kamal!
There were a lot of youngsters(incld us of course:-)) in the crowd which, am not sure, is to be considered a good or bad sign.Are youngsters really into bakthi at this early age or too stressed that they are looking for avenues to de-stress or had simply come (like us) to get a feel of the whole thing and write a blog sometime.....!!!
The highlight of the show was when at the request of the cameraman the crowd was told to raise their hands and clap to the songs so that it could be telecast on the TV show! People would have done it if they had really felt elated.....doing so at the insistence of someone does not really mean anything....except for propaganda though the show!
Here was a group of people(whom God had blessed with enough), ready to do anything for attention and looking for direction towards God, trying to see a way to wash away their sins by chanting the name of God for a couple of hours... Behind the auditorium in the slums, is a crowd, which attracts attention without any efforts, living in un-inhabitable conditions and yet thank God in their own ways for all that HE has given them....there is bakthi in that too....!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
No Mails...No work???!!!
Whats the relation between work and mails...i mean work at office and emails....I login to my system this morning to find my outlook server down.....and i frantically check with alomost 4 other colleagues to ensure everyone else's is down too....and am not sure what i should do next...i start checking all my personal mails and here i am writing this blog!!!!
So, is it something like....I can't begin my work day without checking what mails I have received. For all that matters, during this time of the month...all that I end up receiving are some general mails from fun@work, HR, or from on-shore with info abt sites closed or opened.....most of which i trash or drag to my folders.....and yet...i can't get to start working on my list of to-do's till I check my mails....
wierd is'nt it....! people did work in the ages when no one knew what internet was. World did progress at a good pace with little or no communication.....Gandhi did make a great Leader to study abt for generations...with no great tele-communications or media exposure.....
and here I am wondering what to do???? cos my outlook server is down...damn the technology boom for making us so dependent on it...
So, is it something like....I can't begin my work day without checking what mails I have received. For all that matters, during this time of the month...all that I end up receiving are some general mails from fun@work, HR, or from on-shore with info abt sites closed or opened.....most of which i trash or drag to my folders.....and yet...i can't get to start working on my list of to-do's till I check my mails....
wierd is'nt it....! people did work in the ages when no one knew what internet was. World did progress at a good pace with little or no communication.....Gandhi did make a great Leader to study abt for generations...with no great tele-communications or media exposure.....
and here I am wondering what to do???? cos my outlook server is down...damn the technology boom for making us so dependent on it...
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Busy week ahead
Good morning to a busy week ahead! This weekend proved quite relaxing...with not too much of running around doing silly erands. Did quite a lot of reading of some interesting blogs and tried a Tarla Dalal Biriyani....I think that was the most relaxing thing I did this weekend.....It really did turn out great! The not so good news the last couple of days is the Swine Flu scare.....I wish the virus stops spreading and creating a pandemic....Of all the places we have planned a holiday in September to Pune & Baroda......and now it looks like its goin to go up in thick smoke:-(
Monday, August 3, 2009
Tale of 2 lifestyles...
I think it is not in me to write short blogs......look at what I have done
below...i mean towards the very end of the blog?
I always knew life in Indian cities existed in close contrast to each other
and I became witness to such a lifestyle last saturday.I suddenly got this
overwhelming desire to attend the Baktha Vijayam discourse by Shri
Jayakrsihna Dikshithar at Kamaraj Arangam,Chennai. I decided to go at
4.40pm for the program that was to begin at 7pm. Not a great distance
from where I live in K.K.Nagar...roughly about 7 km. But traversing this
distance is by no means a cake walk on a Saturday evening. For those
who have been in the city recently, the ordeal of crossing Panagal park
and Pondy bazaar would be familiar but for those of you who have not
been in the city for a couple of years....I would say...this is a must do
when u visit Chennai next time. Esply, beginning Aadi month between
5PM to 10PM on Saturday evenings!
Back home, the minute I announced my decision to go for this program,
each one came up with their own views, all trying in some way to slightly
demotivate me from going which made the desire in me more stronger. I
decided to go and immediately got into action in the kitchenette to make
dhal makhani and chapathis for dinner and finished them by 5.45pm and
left home by 6pm after eating 2 hot pulkas with the makhani dhal!!!
Me and my hubby set out to the destination and managed to cross the sea
of traffic at panagal park by 6.40pm and decided to take a short cut via
GN Chetty road to DMS. Suddenly we got this idea to go thru one of the
streets instead of taking the main road again from Teynampet.One Auto
driver...who himself looked like a Dada addressed my hubby as
"Thalaiva" and directed us to go through the "area" and a small lane and
and loooooh, we were lost in the middle of a most happening slum even
before we realised....What a world in stark contrast to the street just a
few seconds from there. Co-existence of life in both extremes so close to
each other seemed a little scary even to someone who has known and
seen such things all life. Every soul in each of the huts in the area was on
the street doing what most of us do inside our cosy homes and compound
walls. Children playing, some ladies chatting, some people getting a
tailoring job done from a mobile tailor, grandparents strolling with the kids
at home, stray dogs running around, mothers making a hot supper and
drain water cruising through a corner. One elderly man clad only in a
"langoti" standing near the mobile tailor to get his shirt sewed, was even
talking about "customer satisfaction" to the tailor....."Nee ippadi pesina
unnakku eppadi "customer" kedaipaanaga?" I was like ...WOW!
We were clearly aliens in their own small world and everyone knew we
were lost trying to find the way to Mount Road. Every person we passed
by in our bike directed us to take the left ahead and pass through the
crooked lane warning us that it is one of those muddy slippery lanes, the
effect of a good shower the previous night!
The moment we crossed this lane, we were suddenly in the middle of the
most buzzing and busiest roads of Chennai as we directly joined Mount
road near the subway at DMS! It was like, coming out of the Magic
Wardrobe in "The Chronicles of Narnia".
And here, in the Kamaraj Arangam....we were greeted by a new
life......"watch this space for my next blog on this new life"!
below...i mean towards the very end of the blog?
I always knew life in Indian cities existed in close contrast to each other
and I became witness to such a lifestyle last saturday.I suddenly got this
overwhelming desire to attend the Baktha Vijayam discourse by Shri
Jayakrsihna Dikshithar at Kamaraj Arangam,Chennai. I decided to go at
4.40pm for the program that was to begin at 7pm. Not a great distance
from where I live in K.K.Nagar...roughly about 7 km. But traversing this
distance is by no means a cake walk on a Saturday evening. For those
who have been in the city recently, the ordeal of crossing Panagal park
and Pondy bazaar would be familiar but for those of you who have not
been in the city for a couple of years....I would say...this is a must do
when u visit Chennai next time. Esply, beginning Aadi month between
5PM to 10PM on Saturday evenings!
Back home, the minute I announced my decision to go for this program,
each one came up with their own views, all trying in some way to slightly
demotivate me from going which made the desire in me more stronger. I
decided to go and immediately got into action in the kitchenette to make
dhal makhani and chapathis for dinner and finished them by 5.45pm and
left home by 6pm after eating 2 hot pulkas with the makhani dhal!!!
Me and my hubby set out to the destination and managed to cross the sea
of traffic at panagal park by 6.40pm and decided to take a short cut via
GN Chetty road to DMS. Suddenly we got this idea to go thru one of the
streets instead of taking the main road again from Teynampet.One Auto
driver...who himself looked like a Dada addressed my hubby as
"Thalaiva" and directed us to go through the "area" and a small lane and
and loooooh, we were lost in the middle of a most happening slum even
before we realised....What a world in stark contrast to the street just a
few seconds from there. Co-existence of life in both extremes so close to
each other seemed a little scary even to someone who has known and
seen such things all life. Every soul in each of the huts in the area was on
the street doing what most of us do inside our cosy homes and compound
walls. Children playing, some ladies chatting, some people getting a
tailoring job done from a mobile tailor, grandparents strolling with the kids
at home, stray dogs running around, mothers making a hot supper and
drain water cruising through a corner. One elderly man clad only in a
"langoti" standing near the mobile tailor to get his shirt sewed, was even
talking about "customer satisfaction" to the tailor....."Nee ippadi pesina
unnakku eppadi "customer" kedaipaanaga?" I was like ...WOW!
We were clearly aliens in their own small world and everyone knew we
were lost trying to find the way to Mount Road. Every person we passed
by in our bike directed us to take the left ahead and pass through the
crooked lane warning us that it is one of those muddy slippery lanes, the
effect of a good shower the previous night!
The moment we crossed this lane, we were suddenly in the middle of the
most buzzing and busiest roads of Chennai as we directly joined Mount
road near the subway at DMS! It was like, coming out of the Magic
Wardrobe in "The Chronicles of Narnia".
And here, in the Kamaraj Arangam....we were greeted by a new
life......"watch this space for my next blog on this new life"!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Long Posts
Its been a really long time since I visited my blog site...suddenly it occured to me that I need to start again. The reason why I have been pushing this task aside is because I never found an interesting topic to write on(now that does'nt sound true as well). Suddenly I realised, I don't necessarily have to write long blogs all the time. Some of them can be short and to the point too....and the point here is ...I have nothing to say now except...Have a happy weekend! I am goin to try an write short blogs from now on...my friend manages to do it and they are absolutely fabulous too....let me also try. After all I am not goin to lose anything?
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Cold & Chennai
Cold & Chennai are almost inseparable! For those of you who know Chennai well, you must be wondering 'what crap is this?'. Well, i mean the common cold. The weather is getting hotter and hotter by the day and office goers realise the heat only during weekends when they are out of their cosy air conditioned offices and in some lucky cases as mine, air conditioned transport! I had vowed to myself that i will not at any cost drink water out of the refrigerator and suffer the after effects of that thirst quenching sin! However, as it has to be, Sun God won over my vows last weekend. Cold water serves as the most appetising and sumptuous meal at any time of the day or night. Well, I only wish i shed more pounds this summer by this water therapy. All in all, my bag is now filled with vicks & amrutanjan! I only wish Chennai & Cold water could gel a little better and this heat stops making me feel sticky all over....no, am not going to talk about humidity now. I get tired to even think of it.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Smile - One world!
I have been waking up to this beautiful dream every
morning in the last couple of days! I wake up to a world
that is really "flat". Imagine a world, where patience
is predominant in all human beings..(Indian roads would
be the most silent!). Imagine a world, where there is
only love and compassion among all living beings, there
is no anger,no ego, no hatered, no war, no riots...A
world where no one knows of a religion and ofcourse the
divisions that are possible within them. Imagine a
world, where people are contended with what they have
and openly help in uplifting the life of fellow human
beings..I have been dreaming of one such world, where
there are no boundaries set and geographies defined...If
only all dreams could come true..?
Where can we start towards this new beginning...may be
in a smile?! What if we all could just begin to pass on
a genuine smile to people we see from dawn to dusk!
Indian culture has certainly discarded this culture to
smile/greet strangers somewhere in the past but there
has to be a humble beginning to this again...How is it
that one(including self) instantly starts smiling at
strangers while in Europe or in US? The reason being it
is so much infectiously a part of their culture to make
people feel at ease...! So...start smiling as often as
you can and soon you will realise how many smiles you
have spread accross the globe!
I have been waking up to this beautiful dream every
morning in the last couple of days! I wake up to a world
that is really "flat". Imagine a world, where patience
is predominant in all human beings..(Indian roads would
be the most silent!). Imagine a world, where there is
only love and compassion among all living beings, there
is no anger,no ego, no hatered, no war, no riots...A
world where no one knows of a religion and ofcourse the
divisions that are possible within them. Imagine a
world, where people are contended with what they have
and openly help in uplifting the life of fellow human
beings..I have been dreaming of one such world, where
there are no boundaries set and geographies defined...If
only all dreams could come true..?
Where can we start towards this new beginning...may be
in a smile?! What if we all could just begin to pass on
a genuine smile to people we see from dawn to dusk!
Indian culture has certainly discarded this culture to
smile/greet strangers somewhere in the past but there
has to be a humble beginning to this again...How is it
that one(including self) instantly starts smiling at
strangers while in Europe or in US? The reason being it
is so much infectiously a part of their culture to make
people feel at ease...! So...start smiling as often as
you can and soon you will realise how many smiles you
have spread accross the globe!
Monday, March 16, 2009
How was your weekend?
With Monday morning blues, brightly written on everyones face, the office was buzzing with the same question in the bus, lift, cafe and workstation. Needless to say, i had my share of the same question and did end up asking it to a few of my colleagues. Well, the degree of response lingered around ..."nothing much, just at home, WORKING, movie, restaurant, relatives at home, very hectic, too hot to step out....kinds". "Too Hot!!" not already...please...its just mid-March...Chennai still has April, May, June and July to sail by.....Yes, Thanks to second largest coastal line....we have been sailing by year after year of hot, hotter and hottest season!
Come to think of it...there is not really much Indians by large, have, to do with their weekends! No excitement, no adventurous plans...Chennai has beautiful temples to admire the architecture, a lovely coastal line, a smooth ECR for a ride to the Mahabs or Pondicherry, great resorts by the beach, a neat highway to Bangalore, nice parks for a small picnic...yet all that we do is to confine ourselves to the known boundaries of a cinema hall or saravana bhavan. Only a very minute percentage burns their pockets on Friday nights at pubs/discos....but what with pubs closing down by 11.30PM...hardly any night out again! A stark contrast with life in US, where I have seen people plan something out of nothing. I admired their ability to make even everyday mundane chores into exciting outings. I do agree, they have a people friendly city/town every where....and a tourisim department that advertises so much from a 100 miles about things as simple as a stream of water gushing through a cave...!
What with my weekend..? a realxing one at home again after almost a month and thought of winding up watching "Delhi 6". A movie with a message but i can only classify it more as a documentary. The American born Hero comes over to Delhi to fulfill his grandma's wishes and decides to stay on and the reason he gives(although this is not the message the movie conevys).... "Everything is here in India and this is where I belong...while we are trying to create this atmosphere back in our homes in USA. But when we look out of the window...the reality is we do not have any of this for real out there..." . Yes...very true...we have so many contrasts and confusion all existing together in a beautiful nest and that is why we have the largest and most successful Democracy in the world!
We in India are living a life filled with everyday adventure and excitement that may be we really don't think it necessary for an adventurous/exciting weekend!
With Monday morning blues, brightly written on everyones face, the office was buzzing with the same question in the bus, lift, cafe and workstation. Needless to say, i had my share of the same question and did end up asking it to a few of my colleagues. Well, the degree of response lingered around ..."nothing much, just at home, WORKING, movie, restaurant, relatives at home, very hectic, too hot to step out....kinds". "Too Hot!!" not already...please...its just mid-March...Chennai still has April, May, June and July to sail by.....Yes, Thanks to second largest coastal line....we have been sailing by year after year of hot, hotter and hottest season!
Come to think of it...there is not really much Indians by large, have, to do with their weekends! No excitement, no adventurous plans...Chennai has beautiful temples to admire the architecture, a lovely coastal line, a smooth ECR for a ride to the Mahabs or Pondicherry, great resorts by the beach, a neat highway to Bangalore, nice parks for a small picnic...yet all that we do is to confine ourselves to the known boundaries of a cinema hall or saravana bhavan. Only a very minute percentage burns their pockets on Friday nights at pubs/discos....but what with pubs closing down by 11.30PM...hardly any night out again! A stark contrast with life in US, where I have seen people plan something out of nothing. I admired their ability to make even everyday mundane chores into exciting outings. I do agree, they have a people friendly city/town every where....and a tourisim department that advertises so much from a 100 miles about things as simple as a stream of water gushing through a cave...!
What with my weekend..? a realxing one at home again after almost a month and thought of winding up watching "Delhi 6". A movie with a message but i can only classify it more as a documentary. The American born Hero comes over to Delhi to fulfill his grandma's wishes and decides to stay on and the reason he gives(although this is not the message the movie conevys).... "Everything is here in India and this is where I belong...while we are trying to create this atmosphere back in our homes in USA. But when we look out of the window...the reality is we do not have any of this for real out there..." . Yes...very true...we have so many contrasts and confusion all existing together in a beautiful nest and that is why we have the largest and most successful Democracy in the world!
We in India are living a life filled with everyday adventure and excitement that may be we really don't think it necessary for an adventurous/exciting weekend!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Dear Dairy,
This is how AnneFrank begins the daily updates in her Dairy. I had been so impressed by the mix of innocence and maturity in this informal addressing of a Dairy...I wish she had lived on to see how her simple notes are still being part of History...or may be if she had been alive...no one would have cared enough to consider those notes so important...
Wondering why am writing about Anne Frank...I was actually wondering how to title my Blog for the day and Anne Frank suddenly falshed in my memory..so there she comes. Work at office was quite satisfactory today with some reports learnt and calls attended and having been formally accepted into the team! I have been exposed to the Radar now....time to watch my steps..The day seems to be satisfactory otherwise too with the scam hit Satyam finally having some real suitors expressing interest in the buy out.
Feeling quite light and elighted at the moment and i was wondering why...now it occurs to me ...tommorrow in office we are having a best colorfully dressed competition in the celebration spirit of Holi! Now, I know what you are thinking...Holi is over and gone by yesterday...but its the "Fun team" at work and they obviously have to live up their name..and its weekend tomorrow...so hurray...time to start unwinding...time to shut down now...so catch up later...
This is how AnneFrank begins the daily updates in her Dairy. I had been so impressed by the mix of innocence and maturity in this informal addressing of a Dairy...I wish she had lived on to see how her simple notes are still being part of History...or may be if she had been alive...no one would have cared enough to consider those notes so important...
Wondering why am writing about Anne Frank...I was actually wondering how to title my Blog for the day and Anne Frank suddenly falshed in my memory..so there she comes. Work at office was quite satisfactory today with some reports learnt and calls attended and having been formally accepted into the team! I have been exposed to the Radar now....time to watch my steps..The day seems to be satisfactory otherwise too with the scam hit Satyam finally having some real suitors expressing interest in the buy out.
Feeling quite light and elighted at the moment and i was wondering why...now it occurs to me ...tommorrow in office we are having a best colorfully dressed competition in the celebration spirit of Holi! Now, I know what you are thinking...Holi is over and gone by yesterday...but its the "Fun team" at work and they obviously have to live up their name..and its weekend tomorrow...so hurray...time to start unwinding...time to shut down now...so catch up later...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
It is a Vicious Circle.
Does Holi have any significance attached to it? The conversation during the coffee break started on this at office yesterday and as I should have guessed, ended up with the poor electoral system in India...! goosh...i anyways don't want to discuss politics right now...but interestingly i got a different version behind Holi's significance from a colleague! other than the usual story about Lord Krishna playing pranks with his girl friends at Brindavan..the new age reason is to ward off the mosquitoes and insects which breed in groups during the winter...that was something to laugh about!
and as though that was not enough to tickle my laughter muscles, i received a response from the Corporation of Chennai(CoC) for a complaint i had raised on bad roads in Guindy...
Guindy Area which inevitably and quite visibly is one of the entry points to Chennai City "does not fall under the Chennai City limits" & the Flyover at Guindy was built by National Highways Dept...so.... ineffect CoC is not responsible for the condition of the roads and therefore deos not care.... Where is change needed?....as always from scratch? or if we have a strong and able Administrator will things change for good? but again..we have a poor electoral system....it is a vicious circle at the end (-
Does Holi have any significance attached to it? The conversation during the coffee break started on this at office yesterday and as I should have guessed, ended up with the poor electoral system in India...! goosh...i anyways don't want to discuss politics right now...but interestingly i got a different version behind Holi's significance from a colleague! other than the usual story about Lord Krishna playing pranks with his girl friends at Brindavan..the new age reason is to ward off the mosquitoes and insects which breed in groups during the winter...that was something to laugh about!
and as though that was not enough to tickle my laughter muscles, i received a response from the Corporation of Chennai(CoC) for a complaint i had raised on bad roads in Guindy...
Guindy Area which inevitably and quite visibly is one of the entry points to Chennai City "does not fall under the Chennai City limits" & the Flyover at Guindy was built by National Highways Dept...so.... ineffect CoC is not responsible for the condition of the roads and therefore deos not care.... Where is change needed?....as always from scratch? or if we have a strong and able Administrator will things change for good? but again..we have a poor electoral system....it is a vicious circle at the end (-
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
What to write?
The inability to pen down a few lines quickly to friends over an e-mail...made me think of taking to blogging seriously..
I suddenly realised i was losing the ability to puts thoughts into words and then into a letter...
With the advent of mobiles, chat networks, orkut, there is hardly a need to write letters on envelopes or even send emails and in the process I never realised all the incapacitation that am going through...and the bell rang loud and clear in my mind...
so here I am beginning this new saga of blogging just letting my thoughts flow. Keep watching this space for simple and interesting spices of life
The inability to pen down a few lines quickly to friends over an e-mail...made me think of taking to blogging seriously..
I suddenly realised i was losing the ability to puts thoughts into words and then into a letter...
With the advent of mobiles, chat networks, orkut, there is hardly a need to write letters on envelopes or even send emails and in the process I never realised all the incapacitation that am going through...and the bell rang loud and clear in my mind...
so here I am beginning this new saga of blogging just letting my thoughts flow. Keep watching this space for simple and interesting spices of life
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