Dinner @ TOWN BUS!!

The topic might slightly be confusing, but this definitely is not the narration of my experience in a bus. What I am trying to refer is a new hotel named "TOWN BUS", that has started functioning in the busy Arcot Road, near Power house in Kodambakkam. Recently mom was with me in Chennai and felt it was the right time to experiment or rather try it out in this Hotel. Had initially looked this hotel from the outside (sure each passerby will at least stare at it once) while travelling there and was curious spending time there. The hotel by itself is modelled as a Town bus (17 D is the number they have mentioned) and hence the name. The entry just gives a feeling of entering into a city bus.

Not just the entry, but the sequence of the below happenings/experience there the other night sure made it a memorable dinner.

• The seats there were an exact replica of the recently released "Sohusu bus"

• There were few support-rests hanging at the roofing similar to the ones that help passengers travelling by standing

• The hotel servers came dressed up similar to that of a conductor with a typical conductor bag and a whistle
  

• The windows well ensured that it gave us a feeing that we are inside a bus
  

(See attached the corresponding pics below)

Apart from the above efforts that were majorly focused in justifying the customers of the name christened, the following factors were observed which shall sure make the new customer a repeat customer.

• There was a space, rather a room provided for customers to have their food in hanging chairs (similar to the hammock chairs) and within each family table, there was a hanging chair suited for a kid


• Ordered for a dosa (as always to finish the proceedings), and was pleasantly surprised seeing a flower designed on it neatly

• The hygiene factor - the hotel was pretty decent and was clean, with all the servers neatly dressed

Upon checking with the hotel inmates, was given to understand that this hotel is owned by a friend of lyricist Vairamuthu. The owner's father was a bus driver, and that apparently talks about the idea of this hotel by itself. Initially in this place, another hotel (Arya Bhavan) was functioning and the owner has bought it and brought about the TOWN BUS.

In all, a good place to hang out and have quality food; but a better place to admire the innovation and difference from the mundane hotels... Sure the repeat customers shall be propogaters ensuring new customers (the write up being no exception as well)!!

Very Funny!!

Recently happened to buy a washing machine for my cousin and had to visit a few shops in connection to the same. It so happened that, in one of the shops (one of the biggest names in the state for home appliances; in the ads the owner comes up with a BIG smile, hope you guessed it) while we were brainstorming on the various models in IFB, Whirlpool, Samsung & LG, we were so-called guided by a reluctant Peter (supervisor) who with all fuss answered our queries quite reluctantly.

But throughout the conversation Mr. Peter had an accent attached which was quite attempted, but again empathized the fact that his job demanded that. Then while we asked for a quote, he instantly prepared one and shared with us. Hilarious one. Not trying to make a mockery here, but thoroughly enjoyed going through it and hence clicked. Note, it is ration card and salary slip, that the superviosr tried mentioning.

Music '07 - My hot three

The year 2007 had been pretty good, if not great for all music hungry ears. Quality scores from the likes of Yuvan, Vidyasagar, Harris & the young GV Prakash. The find of the year undoubtedly was GV Prakash. Not many might be aware of the fact that this chap was the kid who voiced the starting two lines of the yesteryear hit "Chikku bukku chikku bukku railu".

Coming from a family that has a strong affiliation to music (relative of Rehman), his score in Veyil did raise a few eyebrows, eventually establishing him as a good music director; Then arrived his music releases of Kreedom, Oram Po & Pollathavan, which reinstated his stature.

Now coming to my pick (quite subjective) among a few real good tunes composed in 2007.

• The entire "Pachaikili muthucharam" album - did no harm to the reputation of the Gowtham Menon / Harris combo.
• "Chennai 600028" - Yuvan at his very best; the hard core dappanguthu "Saroja Saamanikalo", the romantic "Yaaro" & also the rythmic unconventional "Natpukkulle", all encapsulated in a single album.
• "Satham podathe" - Vasanth (alongside with Kathir) is one director, whom I feel have always given quality music, apart from movie making. This movie is no exception. Pesukiren and Intha Kaathal were real hits.
• "Paruthiveeran" - Yuvan again stealt the show especially in the BGM; He also ensured after a long time, the traditional / cultural folk songs hitting the blockbuster. A special mention here to "Oororam pulia maram", my personal favorite from the movie.
• "Mozhi" - Vidhyasagar did play a pivotal role in the reach of this movie across masses. The BGM was particularly appropriate & nice melodies in the form of "Kaatrin Mozhi" & "Kannaal pesum" added the right balance to this wonderful movie.
  

The aforesaid were all my favorite musical albums of the year 2007. But the best three among all songs composed last year, that were my personal hot favorites, are the ones below:

3 "O Intha Kaathal ennum bootham vanthu yen" from Satham Podathe

The bronze medal is not just for the lovely, lively music, but also for having unearthed the dance material in Prithviraj (have never seen him dance like this before), for the way in which the song was picturised, for the choreography, for the efforts put in by Adnan Saami (fantastic pronounciation) and for the amazing camera work. Special appreciation to the men in white as well.

2 "Akkam pakkam yaarumilla" from Kreedom

Would nominate this as the melody of the year!! Apart from the wonderful music composed, one single aspect that stands out in this song is the editing. Antony's yet another crisp editing. Then the location.. Where on earth did they find this place? Last but never the least, the lyrics. Na. Muthukumar at his own very best!

1 "Arabu Naade" from Thottaal Poo malarum

Was unusually attracted hearing this song first time in radio while travelling back home from office. The next time, upon seeing this song in TV fell in love effortlessly. Yuvan has this uncanny knack of unearthing hits from simple beats and rhythms. Two strong reasons for having awarded this song the gold medal are:

• Haricharan's mesmerising voice (especially when he utters "solluthae" in desperation in the saranam)
• The heroine (her eyes and the reactions) - swear have not seen her face and do not kow what her name is till now. But amazing reactions, of course, overshadowing Shakthi's genuine attempt to steal the show.

Overall, year 2007 has definitely been a good treat for all ardent music lovers. Take this as an opportunity to say a BIG thanks to all the music directors for having enlightened, mesmerised, entertained & most importantly for having acted as a pressure gauge frequently.

12 Angry Men

This is not a review (though would love to) on the Henry Fonda starrer "12 Angry Men" which came in the late 50s and which is being studied, interpreted and argued till date across management institutes and organizations. This is altogether a different story, wherein a group of people got their hands together just against a single reason. The reason is touched on course of this pulambal.

It was yet another uneventful travel to the office in the morning hours, when the very feeling came to a sudden halt on account to a senseless two wheeler who just shifted moods and of course with the slightest of indication changed directions. Imagine, in the busy Velachery road, just in front a school, a two-wheeler, with no indication taking a U-turn.

No better than a collision, resulting even in casualities might have happened, but for my bus driver's quick thinking and evasive action, that refrained from any such collision or injury. But of course the bike's tyre was hit slightly by the bus, resulting in the person to loose balance and he fell down.

On account to courtesy, our bus driver brought our bus to a halt to check if the bike wallah is fine. That's it. Another passerby brought his bike and parked it infront of our bus and started abusing our bus driver. In less than 2 minutes or so, another half a dozen have invited themselves to the party, surrounded the bus and started using all possible filthy languages, asking the driver to get down. For sure, had the driver got down at that point of time, he would have been beated up brutally for no fault of him.

All those who have surrounded the bus were "passers by" and were never the "witnesses" of what had happened. I have witnessed what has exactly happened and there was absolutely no fault with the bus driver. In fact, he should have been credited for the very fact that he managed to avoid a collision, unearthed by the two-wheeler wallah.

The driver denied getting down and locked all the doors for those miscreants to enter in. The abuse now started against all the incumbents of the bus, the reason being we were a part of the IT industry.

A few conversations and happenings in course of this stray incident.
* The group unanimously found fault with the driver and were continuously saying this "IT company na enna komba mulachirku??"
* Soon the police came to the scene, much to the relief of us.
* But no sooner than later, the cops asked the driver to get down, in their own terms and language.
* A senior official came in an Accent and asked the bus driver to kneel down in front of the entire crowd.
* Again that official used the same phrase "IT company na ena peria komba mulachirukku?" He added up, saying "I want to teach a lesson to you guys this time."
* Finally we had to catch another bus and had to go late to office that day. Was given to understand that the bus driver was reprimanded that day and eventually was chucked out from service for no fault of him.

This might be one of the incidents which clearly depicts the hatred the general public has towards the IT companies. This repugnance might be attributed to various reasons, but one major reason that I could relate to their aversion towards the industry is because they perceive that only because of the IT guys, the rates in the real estates, rents and properties have sky rocketed and the Chennai living standard has changed.

But are only IT guys responsible for this? Today the living and the earning standard of any given individual on comparison with the IT professionals might be at par is what is my stand on this. But the myth is that only the IT companies play the spoilsport and hence the aversion shifts towards the entire lot of IT professionals. Being in the industry doesn't call for this generalisation, aversion or stereotyping. Wish the general public understands this at the earliest. A snap taken while the mob surrounded us and tried entering into our bus. "Antha kalavarathilayum oru kizhukizhuppu" :-)

Inspiration

My dad has been my inspiration for a lotsa actions, behaviors and attitudes of mine. One such thing that I had always admired and envied in my dad is his hand-writing. When a few say I have a decent writing style, I always contradict with them; the very reason being it could hardly be compared even somewhere near to "decent or stylish" when compared to that of my dad's.

His strength is his style and also the way in which he manages to pen down those stlyish strokes so very effortlessly. A fast writer, who at the sametime strictly adheres to the indents, parallelism and symmetry in writing. I have always proudly displayed my dad's hand-writing to whoever possible and whenever possible, this blog being no exception.

Recently got a courier despatched from home with the cover hosting my dad's writing. Captured the same and the rest is this write-up.

India, The Superpower - 2020

The title might be slightly misleading, as this blog is not about the dream or vision of our former President Abdul Kalam. Though we might well be in the direction towards accomplishing Kalam's dream, it is too early for me to share my thoughts on the same. So now you might have guessed what I am talking about...

Yes, the T20 WORLD CUP.

The inaugural twenty - twenty world cup, where all the major test playing nations participated invited slightest of my attention earlier, wherein I got to know that India's first match was washed out due to rain & "surprisingly" was intimated by a friend that India is taking on Pakistan in its second match of the round robin (was travelling and hence could not see the match). "Surprisingly", since I am of the kinds who sit and watch even a match being played between Kenya and Scotland.

Might be, off late, the ardent cric-lover in me hibernated, attributed to some work & added responsibilities @ office, attributed to my initial disliking to this format of the game (at that point of time) and of course majorly attributed to India's early exit in the World cup at the West Indies earlier this year.

But it was just a matter of time and I was back to square; thanks to the outcome of the round robin match played between India and Pakistan that ended as a tie, and India edging the winner after the bowl out. Thereon started closely following the remaining matches, especially the Indian starrers and the rest, of course is History now. A few observations about this new format of cricket, about the inaugural World Cup & a few perceptions of mine that got shattered.

• India's learning curve in this format of the game is steep. They have been a few matches old in this twenty twenty format, but there has been tremendous improvement shown by the boys match-on-match.
• It was India, which changed the T20 tradition of winning the toss and chasing, to winning the toss bat first and bowl out or restrict the opposition.
• The Indian team also changed the dimension from going hard from the first ball, to a strategy, wherein, play the first 10-12 overs with rotating the strike and reserving the wickets, and then go hard at the bowlers in the last 8-10 overs, which indeed did the trick.
• Unusual fearlessness in the ranks of all the Indian batsmen and bowlers
• One of the brutal hittings I have ever witnessed -> Yuvaraj Singh, who was definitely at his prime form. Effortless heaves over the boundaries that included six sixers in one BROAAAD over
• A cup, a world cup, an inaugural world cup sans the Sachins, Sauravs, Dravids and the Zaheers
• Last but the most important thing about the entire episode is that, I feel India has managed to unearth a captain, whose character is well reflected in his team's performance. Fearlessness. In the presentation ceremony in the semi-final match between India and Australia, while Ravi Shastri calls up Dhoni to speak a few words, the man arrives and says "You have mentioned in a news daily today morning that the Aussies are favorites. We wanted to prove you wrong, and you are now happy that we proved you wrong". No mincing words - That's Dhoni for you!!

Would love to recapture the lovely memory of me watching THE Final against the Pak with Rajesh, one of my good buddies, with whom I have quenched my thirst of immitating and portraying (nenaiputhaan) Sachin, McGrath, Jonty etc. In short, with whom I have played a lot of matches at Tirunelveli for over four years.

Joined him at his home and enjoyed the drama that unfolded alongside with him and his brother. Starting from Sreesanth's bruises of Nazir, followed by Uthappa's direct hit, it was like a tide.. Up & down!! When at one stage Pakistan was tottering at 105 for 7, I felt that match was sealed and we were breathing easily. But then came an over from Harbajan, where his last three deliveries were smashed consecutively for three huge sixes.

Now the momentum shifted towards Pakistan, when Tanvir hit two more sixes of Sreeshanth, though he was cleaned up in the last delivery. Then came RP, the best bowler of the tournament, in my eyes, who came up with another peach of a delivery to get rid of the 9th wicket. When the last wicket fell, leaving Pakistan 5 runs short of the title, there was a loud cry from all of us watching the match out of ecstasy and my friend tightly hugged me and we jumped together.


I, as a cricket lover could not have asked for a better T20 final. This match could not have better unfolded. For the sweet revenge the two Asian teams took after their early exit from the World Cup 2007, for the quality cricket exhibited by both the finalists, for the match being dragged to the very last over to decide the Champion, for the calculated risk that both the teams took (Misbah by rejecting a single in a Harbhajan over and smashing the next three balls out of the ground; Dhoni by opting a rookie in J Singh for the final over, as against his strike bowler Harbhajan), for the batsmanship displayed by the Misbahs and Gambhirs, for the accuracy in bowling exhibited by the RPs and Guls, and most importantly for India having won a world cup final after a solid 24 waited years.

A superb advertisement by Videocon that came in Times of India, which could be well related in the context of India's progress towards lifting the cup.

Proud Indeed!!

21,900 days. And today we are proud helding our head high, breathing the air of freedom and rejoicing the moment of national and historic significance. The INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

I always wonder why it gives me an immense pleasure when India as a cricket playing nation excels in the ICC cricket rating, when Viswanathan Anand is taking the unassailable lead in the CHESS playing world surpassing the Russian giants, when A R Rahman rocks Hollywood, when I hear 70% of the NASA incumbents are Indians, when half the population of the doctors in the UK is from my nation, when Sania Mirza enters the top 30 in the ATP rating, or even when Leander wins (apart from the Davis cup where he represents India); and for all the aforesaid I proudly attribute it to my so-called patriotism. But am I right in the logic? I doubt, though I couldn't say a stern NO.

If am called THE PATRIOT, then what do we call those freedom-fighters who had spent their entire life, or if not, most of their lives in prison, contagiously passing on the freedom spree to the fellas around them. Goes imperative that sans the sacrifice, the beating and the loss of more than a million noble and tough souls, we could not have been in an independent nation nor could have come out of the slavery and the butchery.

So let's all get together and salute the Nation and the Heroes who ensured an Independent India for us to live on this 60th Independence Day, August, the 15th. And most importantly salute the spirit of freedom. We are proud of you!! Proud indeed!! LONG LIVE INDEPENDENCE!!