Windmills-Craft work

Bangalore, the name may change 100 times with politics behind it but the spirit never dies!  Bangalore is a Paradise capital for those fun loving people who would like to sit relaxed and sip a beer or a favorite drink sitting on an elevated top floor of a building, enjoying the cool breeze and nature alongside.

Windmills-craft work which is recently opened in Whitefield provides solace and helps youngsters to unwind after a testing day! Windmills also helps rewind the past for not so young people who find themselves in bliss with the kind of ambiance and the variety of drinks and menu that the lounge has to offer and also create a sense of doubt and regret about being born earlier?

Windmills is situated on the 5th floor of the building and is a preferred alternative to the 13th floor on the MG Road which remained an unchallenged Lounge all these years?

The rain god was merciful during my visit to the place with family and the rains and gust brought down the temperature of the place considerably to make us all feel pleasant and nice.  Added to the glamour was this Jazz band from Japan who enthralled the guests with some music spearheaded by a Japanese on the Saxophone!  The names of the artistes were difficult to remember and with a couple of pints of beer which is distilled and brewed right there in front of you made it impossible for you to remember any name that was announced. I think most Japanese names end or suggests Toyota or innova!!!

The bar served exotic varieties of beer that are brewed right in front of you that includes the famous dark beer and the wheat beer, served chill out of tap!  What impressed me the most is the way orders are taken?  You are given an I-pad and you click whatever you want to have and the order is placed!!  The innovative, impressive technology adds a feeling of "High" and drives a feeling of sitting somewhere abroad!

The food menu caters to all sections and I was quite amazed to find some interesting short eats like "cock-tail Samosas" and "corn-spinach cutlets" besides the regular dinner stuff like Indian Breads and side dishes that are served in any Punjabi food joint??

The experience of lounging in Windmills will be a deep impact on our minds for a long time to come and at the next available opportunity, I would love to be there?  The evening was enjoyable and will be cherished always!!

Sikh protests sickening!

                                                   

The Protests by a group of Sikhs against the Supreme court judgement acquitting Sajjan Kumar of his role in the 1984 riots which witnessed killing of innocent Sikhs is shocking and unacceptable.  While they have all rights to protest, it should be done in a manner that will not affect public life or movement.  The Metro that happens to be an important factor in any one's day to day life for commuting came to a grinding halt pushing thousands of travellers into inconvenience.

I fail to understand that every Metro station has a CISF patrol station and every traveller is scanned before letting him into the station.  Under the circumstances, how did the CISF personnel allow so many protesters inside the Metro station to come on to the Railway track and even climb on to the Metro Rail?  The Home Ministry must take a note and take serious view and take effective control so that there is no repeat performance by the disgruntled Sikhs.

If today the protesters are able to block the Metro, tomorrow the same group may forcibly enter the Airport and sabotage the system that is presently supervised and controlled by the CISF.  There is dereliction of duty  and suitable action must be taken.

The Sikhs can not bypass the judicial system and have to respect the law.

While on one hand they want pardon of Rajoana, killer of the former Chief Minister of Punjab, they must also understand that the Anti Sikh riots happened way back in 1984 and more than 29 years have passed and both Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler must have had horrendous time, fearing attack and murder all these years?  Both of them must have died thousand times recounting the days they were alive?

It is time that the Sikh brothers learn to Live forgetting the past and working together for a better tomorrow!!

Mohan has powers to make you CRAZY!!

My son and daughter-in-law wanted to give me a surprise when I visited him the last weekend at Bangalore. My son flashed some colorful sheets of printed matter and asked me to take a wild guess as to what it was?

Looking at those colorful printed sheets of paper, I quickly realised that it must be tickets for some Musical show, dinner coupons or something related to entertainment!

When he showed me the tickets, I was over joyed and more happier to understand that I will be meeting my old friends after a considerable period of time and that too in a place away from Chennai. Somehow, time and pre-occupation in life made us drift and prevented frequent meetings!   I along with my son and daughter-in-law drove to Chowdiah Hall to watch the first play- Crazy Kishkinda!!

with Crazy Balaji (Madhu)

Balaji with my son and daughter-in-law Pavithra

                                                                         
I went back stage to meet the humour artistes and also introduce them to my son and daughter-in-law who were watching the play for the first time and also meeting them for the first time.  I have attended all the plays staged by Crazy troupe several times in Chennai and have known their style of functioning and preparing themselves for the play.  The artistes are such professionals that they all know their dialogues well and also manage the show in case of any slip in dialogue by any artiste on the stage.  All of them knew their roles well and also the roles of others, in case someone does not show up on time!

with Lawyer Subbu

with Vasu and Gita

                                                                     
The Artistes trouped in just 20 minutes before the show and were very casual and calm about it.  No one was tensed up and no one was seen rehearsing the lines walking to and fro in a corner, as normally seen in case of stage plays?  I met Gita wife of Vasu who is also a part of the Crazy shows!  Gita is my schoolmate from Delhi and known to me for more than 45 years!  We exchanged some old memories relating to the place where we lived and about our school days.    The announcement came saying that Crazy Kishkinda was being staged for the 365th time spanning a time of 30 years and that the same drama was staged in the same hall about 20 years back for the fun loving Bangalore audience!!  Amidst thunderous claps in the auditorium, the play commenced with Crazy Balaji and Lawer Subramanian sharing the stage delivering dialogues that merged with their roles and  character.  There was no scarcity for laughter and the entire hall was seen enjoying their wits and timings to the maximum.  The subject and debate whether Rama should have killed Vali standing behind the tree prompted laughter in waves and the role of all the artistes had a hall mark of good acting skills.  Crazy Mohan himself came in the role of Vali and evoked peels of laughter with his own scripted dialogues that were crisp and class apart.

I felt elated when Crazy Balaji and Lawyer Subbu while exchanging dialogues brought in my name and even spoke about my singing abilities!  I thought that was a class of recognition of friendship that has been there since the past 30 years?  I expressed my thanks for acknowledging my presence in the hall and felt quite elated to realise the friendship that the entire troupe valued and cherished as much as I did.

with Crazy Mohan before he emerged as Krishna!

Crazy troupe would not  allow me and my family to leave without seeing the subsequent show of Choclate Krishna which was more hilarious and fun with Crazy Mohan doing magic on the stage!  In one of his interviews to a Tamil Magazine, he had said that he learnt the trick of magic from a magician and spent quite sometime in perfecting the art.  True, the dialogues and the magic woven around it was absolutely magical and pushed the audience to the pinnacle of laughter.  When the show ended, I heard a person sitting in the back row passing a remark that Laughter is the best medicine for any ailment!!  How true is that word can be well understood after seeing the Crazy shows.

I noticed a couple of members missing from the troupe who were great contributors to the show way back?
Nevertheless, Crazy creations is a true entertainment package and one can be assured of relieving themselves of worries and seriousness and live a life of humour!!

My best wishes and greetings to the entire troupe of Crazy Creations and wish them hundreds of shows year after year for many years!!

Power of Love that can bring you back to the person loving you?

I boarded Shatapdi Express on the 10th morning to get back to my home and work place at Chennai.  The train left the cantonment station exactly on dot at 6.10 am.  The journey was very pleasant and more delightful when the Railways served as corn flakes and milk followed by a hot cup of Tea/coffee.  The train journey was enjoyable and I did not realise that we were In Jolarpettai by 8 am.  More than 30 minutes passed and the train was grounded.  There was an announcement through the Public Address system in the station that the train will not move forward towards the destination as a derailment had occurred near Arakkonam through which Shatabdi had to pass.  Further, the announcement said that the delay could be at least 3 hours and more!!  Going by the standards of such statements in the past, I felt that the delay could be at least 6 hours and more and realised that there was no point in spending time sitting within the train.  I ventured out of the station to see if I could manage some Taxi or any other transport to get back to my destination.  To my amazement, I figured at least 500 people on the road outside the station trying their best to get hold of any form of transport to reach their destination that was 200 kms plus away!  There were a couple of Auto-rikshaws and 3-4 private cars surrounded by hundreds of people trying to win their luck!  I decided to wait for a while until the anxiety subsides.  Suddenly, there was yet another exodus of people swarming out of the station and this time Lalbagh express jettisoned its passengers in hundreds!!  I realised it was futile to spend time and energy standing outside the station at Jolarpettai.

Luck smiled upon me when I found a train steaming in from the opposite direction and heading towards Bangalore.  I rushed to the ticket counter and got a ticket for Bangalore.  Within minutes, the train moved and I got back to Bangalore in a couple of hours.

When I booked my train ticket, my son and daughter-in-law were  not too happy to let me go so soon and  wanted me to stay for a longer time.  I cited reasons that compelled me to return to Chennai and promised to come back at the soonest and never did I realise that the term"soonest" will be so soon!!  

Truly, the power of Love and Affection and its aura is so powerful that it can bring the person back!  Probably, its this mystique that gave immense powers to our Yogis and Gurus and added attractions??

Reliance Insurance

Reliance Motor car insurance is probably the worst I have ever come across in my whole life.  I bought a second hand car and along with it came the insurance policy that was valid for a few months.  when it became due for renewal, I contacted the insurance guys in Chennai office and they were quite curious to know if I would go for a comprehensive insurance?  My experience with insurance companies in general is that no insurer gives anything more than 65% of your claim and makes you shell out the balance 35%.  The insurance company has so many formalities lined up that it takes quite some time for the settlement and to get the car repaired.  Hence, I decided to renew all my motor car insurance for third party risks only!

The rate of premium for third party insurance was quite normal until about 3 years back but has more than doubled in the past couple of years.  The insurance company is not interested to renew third party policies and give vague reasons to the customer with an intent to drive him away from them.

in my case, the due date was 28th March, 2013.  Pressure of work and bit of carelessness on my part, skipped the due date for payment of renewal premium.  I did not get a renewal notice either from the insurance company.  When I contacted them on the 1st April, 2013 and asked for renewal of my policy, Reliance office bearer one Mr Kamal told me that the insurance premium is increased and that the renewal premium is Rs 1416/-.  I made a cheque for Rs 1416/- favouring Reliance General insurance and sent it to the office.  The company returned the cheque stating that it is not their policy to accept cheques and asked for cash payment.  accordingly, I sent the requisite cash and asked them to issue the policy.  Again the person named Kamal told me that they will send a surveyor to carry out necessary inspection and then issue the policy.  The surveyor came for inspection on the 2nd April, 2013 and submitted his report.  Today, the company is saying that they will have to take not sanction for this renewal as the model of the car in approved list(Hyundai Getz 2006 model).

Ultimately, it is the way these people do business and form their own rules and regulations giving a damn to the IRDA appointed by the Finance Ministry.  When I told the concerned person that I will be forced to take up the matter with IRDA, they are laughing it out and asked me to go ahead!

The money is deposited with the branch on the 2nd April, 2013 and there is no receipt issued for acceptance of the money.  The officials say that they will issue the policy only after clearance from their head office!!

No wonder, these private insurance companies are undependable.

Encroachments outside Kamaraj Terminal/Airport

Nowhere in the world can you see way side encroachments bang opposite the Airport which is supposed to be the welcome gate way for both Domestic and Foreign tourists!  Chennai boasts of modern terminal that is just going to be inaugurated and going to become operational bringing in several thousands of both Domestic and International passengers.  The first thing that is going to hit the eyes and  become a sore point  is the Tea Stall that serves to the passers by which is right in front of the new, modern terminal.

Unless the Corporation of Chennai moves in fast and removes these stalls that operate bang on the GST road, lots of people would be encouraged to put up their own stalls serving small eats and drinks which would attract many passersby and become a nuisance value causing traffic jams and much more?  As the way side stalls offers eatables at a much cheaper price, it is bound to attract even the staff working inside the airport terminal as the charges inside the airport premises is too high and sometimes unaffordable!    It will be difficult to remove them once they start operating as they have avenues for justice that will take years and years for judgement!  The local representative of the political party would also cause all possible hindrance for the Corporation in removing the unauthorised stalls.  This has happened on Marina Beach and also on Elliot's Beach where numerous stalls have sprung up doing business and making a mess out of the beautiful beaches that stands as an attraction to tourists visiting the city.

Hope the authorities wake up before it is too late?

Dream comes true

Years back, When I was in-charge of a nationalised bank at Chennai, We used to have a stream of officials and friends of officials trooping into Chennai for the sake of staying in a 5 Star hotel within their official  eligibility means!  Our Bank had financed a top rated 5 star hotel bang in the city and the unofficial condition reached with the promoters of the Hotel was that whenever the higher ups visited the city, they would be accommodated within their official eligibility means!

Every week, I would get some call from my Head office at Delhi informing about the proposed visit of some Bosses on one pretext or the other.  The usual ritual was that I had to go to the Airport at Meenambakkam and stand there with a bouquet of flowers to welcome the so called higher official whose mind set was much below the thinking of an average man!

One of our Directors from the Finance Ministry visited the city twice every month as he was also on Board of yet another Nationalised Bank that had Head quarters at Chennai.  The Chairman's secretariat used to ring me up and inform me to book the usual room at the 5 star hotel and also receive him at the airport with a car at his disposal, along with bouquets and other formalities!!

This man, coming to the city twice every month also had his room booked at the Staff Training college of the other Nationalised Bank but he preferred the 5 Star comfort offered by my Bank for which the entire logistics fell on my head every fortnight?  Although I or my bank  had no role to play in his coming to the city, I was prevailed upon by my head office to arrange support for the Director!

Now, the South Indian Director would walk down the steps where at least a dozen officials representing the 2 banks and also the Ministry of Finance would be standing to greet him(artificially) and put up a smiling face welcoming him.  He would look around to ask who has brought-which car?  Every one would specify the car that they have fetched to take him to the place of his choice.  Obviously, he would spell out his intent of going to the star hotel and ask all others to follow him!  Thus, a convoy of at least 5 cars would take this single official to his most preferred destination in the city where he would sign off all others except me as only I knew the Hotel management in my official capacity!  I would quietly follow him to his room where he would create a big tantrum if he found there were no cookies or bouquet of flowers with a note to welcome him!  Although I found it hard to digest, I had no choice except to keep quiet and undergo the torture?  I would be at my heels even during those wee hours trying to organise some cookies or goodies for this Director and telephone the guest relation manager and all others to inform that the Director of the Bank is in their Hotel and everyone should be on their toes!

During Winter times, this man used to bring at least 2 huge suit cases and empty them in front of me.  They were all used winter garments or clothes like silk Saree that required dry cleaning.  I would telephone the laundry and ask them to send a person to take all the clothes for laundry and deliver the same back within the next 24 hours and this formed a regular duty for me besides my official work!

He would stay for a couple of days and enjoy or extract everything possible from the Hotel leaving me to do all the dirty work of adjusting the bills to fall within his eligibility norms as fixed by the other Nationalised Bank!  I never felt good serving these kind of greedy and selfish people.  I used to wonder if I would ever get a chance to act like him and enjoy the 5 star comforts?

                                          (Sun Rise from Hotel Pullman, Gurgaon)
Every one gets his turn and time and its my turn now.  My son who travels widely invites me to stay with him whenever he is in town.  The 5 star comfort and the pampering reminds me of those days when I was forced to be in attendance for my Director in the Bank.  The only difference is that I never carry clothes for dry cleaning or dry wash or make tantrums about those missing cookies or flowers in the room!! I feel very happy and elated to see my son rising to this position and making a mark in his career and thank god for realising my dreams that I had decades back!  I keep talking about various incidents that happened during my career and advise him things that he must not do?