The world is moving on. Harry has grown from a kid with a lightning-shaped scar to an adolescent with story sounding more and more borrowed from the Bush & Party vs. Osama & Party. Mumbai and Pune are drowning in the rain...
Australia is again thrashing England at the Ashes. Salman has got in and out of yet another of his signature controversies. Mallika Sherawat is again nagging the nation with one of her "I am viagra for India" theories. Aby Baby is AGAIN offering the offer for any 'ordinary Hindustani' to become a crorepati by just answering his few simple questions.
"Lock kar diya jaaye?" says the fabled baritone... But no, right now its not the baritone ringing in my ears, but the mobile vibrating in my pocket.
Airtel seems to have taken upon itself the admittedly altruistic goal of waking every 'ordinary Hindustani' early in the morning, middle of the afternoon and late in the night with a flurry of SMSes announcing the next question to answer to get 5 minutes on Prime Time television at the 'Fastest Fingers First' round [That makes it the FFF round. 'FFF' converted from hex to decimal is '4095', which is exactly (4K - 1)... hmmm, there are better things to write about]. You know, the round where you get to wave at the camera looking like a mannequin of yourself, and then (gee, here comes the exciting part!) sit in the shadows desperately hoping that the person in the 'hot seat' gets an answer wrong.
AB (the one and only, Abhishek doesn't qualify yet; Atal is quite out of the reckoning, methinks) has also taken upon himself the task of inviting people on to the hot seat from well-lighted hoardings placed along major roads in major cities. That works pretty well, you know, his pictures luring people into KBC2 while he is out there endorsing the next unknown brand in town.
Meanwhile I hear my colleague muttering unmentionables at the next round of KBC SMSes on his mobile. Whatever happened to that PIL asking the cellphone operators to stop unsolicitated messaging? It made more noise than a Boeing at take-off, but someone forgot to land it...
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005
The saree conspiracy
The boy thought he would be fine. "What is in it?", he thought. "I can handle these things..." But he wasn't prepared for what lay beyond the door, in the hallway... His pupils dilated, the trusty 'ol feet quaked in their shoes, his muscles stiffened, he could hear his joints creaking as he approached... He prepared for the struggle ahead.
'The boy' is me, and this describes my first attempt at buying a saree... 'The hallway' belongs to 'Nalli silks' and - believe me - it looks like one huge railway station. Racks and racks of sarees, hallways full of fawning females, exasperated kids and frightened husbands.
Not that this is the only shop that is this intimidating. Many other saree shops around. Oh, I'm sorry, you said you are a jewellery freak? Check out VBJ - another HUGE building stocked up with whatever jewellery you can dream of. If looking at the stars on a clear winter night doesn't make you think of your insignificance in the scheme of God's plans, this sure will.
But nothing beats the excitement of having around 5 - 6 tonnes of steel hanging on your head. Yep. This experience can be had for free in one of the steel shops you would find in the market. I couldn't see the ceiling. I was looking at the bottoms of God knows how many buckets, drums, cooking vessels of every shape and size. The inside of the shop was very musical. Gives one a whole new perspective to 'listening to heavy metal'.
Yeah yeah, Chennai has temples. Chennai has beaches. Chennai has museums. Chennai has Pondicherry (close by). But I enjoyed my time in the markets, roaming around in the hustle and bustle of daily life, heckling the rickshaw-wallahs (these guys are my favourites). I discovered a new side to tourism in the dirt of Chennai's concrete jungle (Yeckk... what a cliche).
I did go to Mahabalipuram, but that wasn't half as interesting as this. No apologies for not elaborating on THAT experience, though, to give it its due, it wasn't all that bad.
'The boy' is me, and this describes my first attempt at buying a saree... 'The hallway' belongs to 'Nalli silks' and - believe me - it looks like one huge railway station. Racks and racks of sarees, hallways full of fawning females, exasperated kids and frightened husbands.
Not that this is the only shop that is this intimidating. Many other saree shops around. Oh, I'm sorry, you said you are a jewellery freak? Check out VBJ - another HUGE building stocked up with whatever jewellery you can dream of. If looking at the stars on a clear winter night doesn't make you think of your insignificance in the scheme of God's plans, this sure will.
But nothing beats the excitement of having around 5 - 6 tonnes of steel hanging on your head. Yep. This experience can be had for free in one of the steel shops you would find in the market. I couldn't see the ceiling. I was looking at the bottoms of God knows how many buckets, drums, cooking vessels of every shape and size. The inside of the shop was very musical. Gives one a whole new perspective to 'listening to heavy metal'.
Yeah yeah, Chennai has temples. Chennai has beaches. Chennai has museums. Chennai has Pondicherry (close by). But I enjoyed my time in the markets, roaming around in the hustle and bustle of daily life, heckling the rickshaw-wallahs (these guys are my favourites). I discovered a new side to tourism in the dirt of Chennai's concrete jungle (Yeckk... what a cliche).
I did go to Mahabalipuram, but that wasn't half as interesting as this. No apologies for not elaborating on THAT experience, though, to give it its due, it wasn't all that bad.
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