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" :-)

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.

ENNA KODUMAI SARAVANAN??!!

One of the well known, reputed hospitals in Chennai catering well to the emergeny and medical needs of software professionals profoundly. Any passers-by the OMR would have never missed a glance on this "MULTI SPECIALITY HOSPITAL". Even in one of the recent hit movies, this hospital was publicized as the city's leading hospital.

Coming to the point, a place where people come to get cured, is seemingly breeding the source of all maladies paradoxically. On account to the June showers, the low-lying area infront of the hospital is accumulated with rain water. Gradually that area has been transformed into the mosquitos' Vedanthangal. Its been over a month that I have been watching this hospital, but nothing much has changed and none seem to be concerned. These days, upon nearing the place, foul odours emanate and the bus (through which I peep all these happenings) gets overloaded with flies and mosquitos.

Wish someone brings this to the serious notice of the Management of the HOSPITAL and let them know that their reputation is at stake. And the aforeblogged might be my small initiative towards the same.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE

Have been my closest of companions for two wonderful years. Has absorbed my grin, my smile, my agony, my pain, my humor, my tears, my snooze, my siesta, my gossip, my hatred, my wear and in short my emotions. Apart from a very few closest of my friends, only he knew Ganesh as Ganesh.


He is MOTOROLA C300, the first ever mobile I got in my life. After him, I have switched on brands and models; and currently my 6630 is my fourth possession. But none could emulate the feel of gripping my C300 or its ruggedness. So compact and sleek, I was just impressed seeing him in one of the shops at Meenakshi Bazar in Madurai. Went against my instincts and against my friends' advice of opting a Nokia, but never repented the buy till date.

Today happened to be the fourth year since I made him mine. He is with me even today with that same nonchalant outlook, with the same bright face, but sans MY EMOTIONS... (no sim attached/just for display)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE!!

HAT TRICK again!!

Yes three consecutive posts on a movie that I managed to see thrice in two weeks. Was on a recruitment visit to one of the engineering colleges in Pondy.

Guess what, commuted via the same bus that comes in Sivaji (just before the climax) and of course with the same driver who starred (or at least showed face) in Sivaji. The same Parveen 8019. All collegues and even a few senior panelists were happy on getting this update; such is the charisma and craze attached to the man. Photos for your glance