Chez Moi

As you can see from the above vid, there were cars, autos and other vehicles patiently waiting for the road to clear. The decibel level is pretty high too. This was taken at around 9 am in the morning. The same event occurred at 3.00 am that morning (or night - whichever way you look at it!). Understandably, I shot out of bed wondering what the racket was about.

Through bleary eyes, I noticed the devoted mass dancing in the streets. Whilst I do give it to them that they have every right to show their devotion in every which way that pleases them, should it encroach on others’ lives? At 3.00 am, is it too much to expect to get some undisturbed sleep?

Or is it blasphemy?

[Guest post by Ranju]

For the kick-starter, Rowing is a sport which is highly catching up in the city of Madras, thanks to Madras Boat Club. A membership here costs 50k for a year where in you will have put in 300 hours of rowing. As an annual event, the MBC conducts a Corporate Regatta which is aimed to bring in more people into this sport. In this regard, my friend’s mom, Neela, who has a production house of her own called Madras Houz, decided that it would be great for us to participate. I have done some music – related work such as jingles, sound edits/recording for the company and hence qualify as a part time employee there. Apart from Neela, there are 2 other women working in the company, Uma and Sharmishta (my friend, Neela’s daughter). So the four of us decided that it would be fun and fitness combined for us if we signed up for this year’s Regatta. So that’s exactly what we did. Little did we realize how serious we were becoming about this event. Every morning, 5 hours past midnight saw us standing in Boat Club waiting for boats to be pulled out! Initially, it was quite hard, considering a) I NEED my sleep! b) The inviting(?) smell of the “koovam”. But as the sport got exciting, it didn’t matter. I got over my sleep issue and I just got used to the smell (Honestly, it isn’t that bad, considering they take special care of the course where we row!).

We practiced for 2 long months, almost everyday! The one hour in the morning with extensive coaching by the Club coaches did us real good. We got better by the week and we realized how strong we were becoming and how a sport changes the way you look at your day/week/life. We rowed as 4 on a boat and also took part as two entries (MH A & MH B) in the pairs contest, with two each on one boat.

As race day got closer, we started practicing in the evenings after work as well. Only then did we realize how excited we were about winning the race. Even though the buzz around the club was that 4 of us were going to be a tough team, we still wanted to make sure that we live upto that. There were many teams from all over the city, with 7 women’s only teams, from companies like Sify, Element K, Lion Bridge, JWT, O&M and of course, Madras Houz.

The heats began 3 days before the final race. A race is 750 meters and only two teams can race at a time. Each team had 2 entries for the pairs and we did too! So we got cracking down to the first race. This was easily the scariest part for me as Sharmishta and I were a team and we were to take on corporate oarspersons (not rowers ;)) who have had experience for about 5-6 years, in our FIRST EVER race!! Quite tense, we sat on the boat and till the second we heard the “Are you ready on the inside? Are you ready on the outside? Are you ready? ROW!” we didn’t realize the amount of energy in us! No more thinking after that and we took her home to the finish in style and won our first race!!! YAYY!

After that, there were 3 more races that we had to clear to reach the finals and we did so quite well! And guess who we met at the finals?? MH B! So us Madras Houz girls won both the first AND second place in our first ever Regatta! Result! Element K won the over all championship as they had a guys team as well. But we were more than delighted with our loot! Huge trophies are always a high! If only we were given a free membership to go with it Even the press paid us a visit on the day of the finals.

A little background on Regatta: this event has been held for the past 80 years and has been successful in churning out few on India’s best oarspersons. The excitement, the festive air, the spirit, the fights, the shrug offs, the pre and post dinners, the beer, which sure excites all the men and everything else that comes along with the package, it sure is a delight to be part of the entire extravaganza.

At the end of the day, all that effort did pay off and I loved the entire experience. Sometimes, even today, I almost stumble out of my sleep at 5 AM in the morning to look for my sneakers to hit the club, and before I realize I still have the Regatta – Hangover, I head back to sleep

I came across this website entirely by accident and decided to blog about it straightaway. What a fantastic concept! Enough has been written about the state of the Chennai roads that it needs no clarification. Anyone who has experienced the bouncy, roller-coaster aspect of it has cribbed, complained and of course, blogged about it in great detail.

Now, we have a trio of enterprising youngsters who actually DO something about it. How very un-Indian! Mahesh Radhakrishnan, Vijay Anand and Divya Rajagopal decided to mark the 60th anniversary of our Independance in a slightly different way - by actually making a difference. So, with a little help from friends and strangers, they took to clearing up the Velacheri and Mandaveli area. At the end of the long night, they had fixed an impressive sixy plus potholes! 

Anyone who has been to these areas know that they are a delight to any conoisseur of pot holes and crossing it is an unforgettable memory. For an encore, they took on the Tiruvanmiyur area and what is impressive about this outing is, their band of merry men and women swelled from 18 for the first campaign to an impressive 43!

They are now gearing up for their hat-trick performance, to be held in October.

It is the little things that make a difference and these three are proving it every month. Every Chennaivasi worth his/her salt has complained about the crappy state of the roads and the profusion of pot holes. Not one of them - local government included - has done anything about it. Now, these three are making a difference and what’s more, are giving the armchair moaner a tailormade oppurtunity to make one too. You can be a doer and join them in fixing the roads; or let them know of the geographical location of a pothole near you; you can even form a parallel group like theirs, with their help or if you are a lazy sod like me, you can donate to their cause. Easy peasy!

So, what are you doing this October 14th? Give them a shout if you are keen to make a difference. 

One of the biggest things I miss here in firang-land are the desi flowers - y’know, jasmine and its sisters that are strung up on a piece of string to adorn your lovely tresses. I absolutely love having flowers in my hair and long for it whenever I wear saree (once in a blue moon event!) here. And I kick myself for all the times my gran used to ask me “shall I get you some flowers?” and I had replied in the negative because I was wearing jeans. (Jeans means no bindi, no flowers - Ethiraj College rule)

So this time when I was in Madras, I never said “no” when my gran asked her favourite question. What’s more, I even took a pic of a flower stall to remind me of what I am missing!

What do they call people like me? Oh yeah, glutton for punishment!

Long before my parents moved to Besant Nagar, Grand Sweets, Adyar has been our chosen venue when shopping for sweets & savouries. Murukku, cheedai, kuzhi paniyaram - you name it, you’ll get it. Every time I make a trip home, I will make sure I pay at least a couple of visits to the place, to get my fill of it. It is the only shop I know that looks more like your grandma’s sprawling bungalow than a prosperous shop. Every morning and evening, one of the workers would even wash the entrance area and decorate it with kolam.

 

The best time to visit the joint is around 3.00 PM, when the kitchen would be doling out made-that-instant thattais and murukkus. That is also the time when a harried lady would be bringing in plate after plate filled with donnais of free sweet pongal or kesari or some such. The resulting scrum has to be seen to be believed. Respectable old gentlemen and weedy maamis would abandon idle chatter at the sight of the freebie and make a run to the table. Some would have camped out there since the previous night. I have found myself front row centre on couple of occasions and all around me were thousands of elbow joggers who tried to shove five others out of their way to get their hands on a free spoon and a half of sweet pongal.

This time, I even heard a maama whine, “15 nimishama wait pannaromma!” while another wheedled, “idhu varaikkum oru cup thaan kadaichidhu“. The sight has to be seen to be believed. For those who cannot take a trek to the place, here are some pictures.