Week end Retreat @ Hiranandani, OMR Chennai

we decided to go to our week end retreat apartment @ Hiranandani, OMR to have some quite and serene moments.  It was past 6pm when we reached the place and what a lovely change it was to be there, away from the city.  The air was fresh and in plenty to kindle our thoughts and brains.  The freshness prompted us to murmur the famous song from the film Khushboo-  O majhi re apna kinara..... We were quite thrilled to see the moon lit sky and the reflection that it created on the back waters that was adjoining!  Breathing fresh air and eating fresh dal/roti and chawal, we were sitting in the balcony and recollecting all songs that had words like sea/water/tide/boat/majhi/boatman etc.. The time flew and it was past midnight when we realised that we must retire for a good sleep to wake up fresh in the morning.  We decided to keep all the windows open and the cross ventilation of air and the circulation was a different feeling, rejuvenating!

The morning Sunrise from the East was spectacular with the sky glowing blue and golden.  It was around 5.55am when the first rays of the fiery planet came through our windows and quickly within minutes, it was broad day light and we felt the heat of the Sun slowly intruding our room.

Down below in the back waters, there was a motor boat with some fisher folks who were venturing for a good catch!  I felt happy for the fishermen that they had mechanised motor boats driven on diesel which was fast and speed ed up their routine.  Very soon, they had spread nets and got busy with their work.  Hopefully, they got a big catch to make it a great celebration for their families?

From the rear side of our apartment was the panoramic view of the OMR(old Mahabalipuram Road) which was developing fast in view of the IT hub that got parked in this locality.  There were apartments which were ready for occupation and in some places, work had started for building more apartments and villas by reputed builders who found this place as most rewarding in the city of Chennai.  The place has all infra structure facilities and is also connected well to the city and the suburbs.  One thing that comes to your mind is what next?  The days are very warm and sometimes hot enough to push you remain indoors.  The recreational facilities are not enough in this place and has to develop.  Ultimately, one realises that it is the climate that makes a place enjoyable!  Yes, one can enjoy all these views if the climate is good and cool for anybody to step out of their homes.  It is a good experience for enjoying a few weekends in a year!!

Editor of Kumudam for the issue dt 30/08/1990

Sandhya, my wife was immersed in happiness and ecstasy when the then Editor-in-chief  Mr Ra.Ki.Rangarajan called her and requested to be the Editor of the issue dt 30/08/90 that was coinciding with the  eve of Ganesh Chathurthi !  There was only one single Television channel during those times and the announcers and News readers during those times were as popular as the film stars and were given a special status wherever they travelled throughout the State!  Similarly, Kumudam, the weekly Tamil magazine was so popular that people used to rush to the book stalls in their area to secure a copy of the most wanted and popular magazine, every Thursday!!  The magazine had a wide circulation of more than 100,000 copies every week!!  The Madras Door Darshan in between their popular programmes,  started flashing the advertisement of the forthcoming issue of the popular magazine and the name of the Editor who would pen, Edit and contribute to the magazine! Sandhya being one of the most popular News Readers and now editor of the most popular and leading weekly magazine created quite a flutter and infused inquisity and anxiety amongst the Tamils!!  One Mr Bamaji, a person filled with sense of humour and information on current affairs  was deputed to assist my wife in this venture.  Bamaji would convert even a simple sentence into a humour and it was great fun working with such a brilliant personality who was responsible for this temporary conversion of a Tamil News Reader into an Edior of the most popular magazine!! The advance information, in the form of advertisement in various forms of media,  from Kumudam attracted several individuals who were interested to be associated with the issue for the sake of mustering popularity and fame as it was a magazine with the largest circulation!  

There were many popular Tamil film artistes, theatre personalities, family members and freinds  who called us and impressed upon including them as part of some informative matter and the prominent amongst those was Music Director Shankar(Ganesh) who personally called me and started talking about being son of the soil of Tirunelveli and praised sky high about my singing capabilities and what not?  Incidentally, my wife also hailed from Tirunelveli(Gopalasamudram)!  The inputs given by so many personalities were taken and included.  However, the final verdict of inclusion rested with the Kumudam Editorial staff who scanned all the contents carefully and picked only those which had interesting substance in them in order to retain the popularity and readership that the magazine enjoyed!

My boys Neeraj(12) and Pushkar(8) both students of the D A V Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram  knew there was something interesting happening and happily posed for photographs that were taken by the magazine for publication.  One such picture is what appeared on the cover of the magazine in the Sound Studios fondly named after my father Suryanarayanan!  

I also contributed my stories and jokes which formed part of the magazine besides talking about the bank in which I was working as the Chief Manager.  The trade union leader in the bank wanted me to write about him and about the union that he was heading in the south.  When I told him that it was my wife who was editing it and the magazine will not allow private publicity, he got angry and left my chamber with disgust!  Similarly, there were quite a few family members who got upset as their names did not feature in the issue and chose not to talk to us thereafter!!  On one side, there was joy in seeing the final output that came as an issue dt 30/08/90 and on the other side there were disgruntled elements who did not appreciate this popularity and were not in favour as the magazines did not mention about them?

Overall, the experience was rich and rewarding and the subsequent issues carried praises from the readers for bringing out an interesting weekly issue that was edited by my wife Sandhya!  I was thrilled to get this honour that made us more popular throughout the country!  For the sake of thrill, we drove past many bookstalls on that Thursday and felt happy to see the magazine stacked or clipped for display and sale!  The magazine at that time cost Rs1.75p only!!!  As I look back, 23 years have passed by and it is still fresh in our memories and thoughts and brings a smile in us whenever we recollect this pleasant past!

Chinese also steal Hearts!

I was quite surprised to get a mail from my old time friend Ganesh sundaram inviting me to attend the marriage of his elder son Nikhil with Hsin @ Delhi on the 23rd June, 2013.  The name added curiosity and more so as she was an Associate Professor of Music with Texas A&M University, U S A.  My friend is an accomplished Piano-Accordion player himself and we used to perform in Delhi during the 70s.

I and my wife left for Delhi on the 21st morning as there was sangeeth program at the Lake Side club, Mayur Vihar in the evening.  Hsin, hailing from Taipei presented a couple of Chinese folk songs which were sounding brilliant and outstanding.  She is trained in Opera singing where one is trained to sing without using Mikes or amplification systems!  One has to use the vocal cords to amplify the sound and the training is so perfect that you do not require any supporting gadgets to amplify your voice!!  It is also true if you recall how our carnatic stalwarts like S D  Kittappa, M D Ramanathan and many others sang without using any supportive amplifications.

There were more than a dozen versatile singers and each one outclassing the other in singing!  Mridul, younger son of Renu and Ganesh adorned his Spanish Guitar to accompany the singers and also play a few heavy metal clips which were appreciated well.

The morning of 23rd June, 2013 witnessed the young couple locking themselves in the spectrum of Matrimony, the rituals of which were conducted according to Hindu rites and rituals.  Hsin was clad neatly in a traditional south Indian silk Saree and looked vibrant and beautiful.  Nikhil looked absolutely handsome and affectionate.  Both of them got married and there were hundreds of guests to bless the newly weds.

There were 5 family members of Hsin who specially flew in from Taipei to attend the marriage.  The highlight of the marriage were a Chinese couple from Delhi, friends of Ganesh who were gracious enough to do Kanya Dhaan of Hsin who did not have her father.  The Chinese couple were known friends of Ganesh for a long time and readily agreed to do the role of parents of Hsin for the function!  god bless them all!!  I also met one of our good old friends popularly known as LC(L Chandrasekar) who used to try his hands on the drums when we had the orchestra during the early 70s! Both of us looked well fed for ever whereas Ganesh, the Groom's father,  looked as if he had parted all his food only to both of us!!  We had a good time cherishing old memories together.

Chinese not only intrude Indian Territories but also Indian Hearts!!

Bichde sabhi bari bari!! (getting lost step by step)

When I landed up in the erstwhile Madras, now called as Chennai in the year 1981, I stood in the Madras Central Railway platform all alone looking for support and protective feeling that anyone would want when he is thrown into a place totally alien and unexplored?

It was the in-built Culture of Delhi that helped me to pick up friends who multiplied into squares within months!!  I felt blessed with my natural talent of singing which brought me closer to many and won good friends across the city.  The Made for each other contest sponsored and organised by ITC tobacco company in the year 1985 brought acclaims and laurels to me and my wife as winners from the South Zone.  This put me further on an elevated pedestal where I came into contact with bigwigs of Chennai.  I could get School admission for both my sons in the reputed D A V Higher Secondary School, considered the most difficult objective to achieve, through the contacts that I had developed which could be possible only with the background of Delhi upbringing!  I must admit and accept  the ocean of difference between a South Indian Lad brought up in Chennai and Delhi.

When I used to fly out of Chennai, I used to see at least 20 known faces in the airport talking various flights to various destinations on duty.  The airport, sometimes, was more a social forum where I used to meet many of my friends and catch up on personal and official terms.  The morning flight meant having the morning cup of coffee with friends and sometimes had food on flight sitting next to each other!!  The same thing happened when landing at the destination where I could easily spot a friend and invariably shared a taxi to our respective destinations!!

Two weeks back, I travelled to Delhi on a personal visit to attend a marriage.  I reached the new terminal of Kamaraj International Airport at Chennai that has been given a complete face lift and make-up to compete with airports of repute globally.  The airport is huge and spacious and makes you feel like a tiny object.  I looked around 360 degrees to find if there are any known face in the crowd?  To my utter disappointment, I could find none!  I tried hard even looking at remote places just to give a moment of solace to my desperate mind that refuses to acknowledge the fact that I now belong to the older generation that is being phased out or pushed out of circuit.  Even finding a single person known to me would give that required stimulus to the mind?  I was desperate and started screening the waiting hall.  My happiness knew no bounds when  I spotted a nice looking gentleman, cleanly combed sitting bang opposite to my chair.  My eyes refused to believe as he smiled at me and acknowledged my stare!  I went up to him and shook hands... yes, he was Arvind Swamy, the hero of Roja and Bombay who created a huge fanfare through his films directed by Mani Ratnam.

  It seemed he had done quite an extravagant expenditure on his bald head!  Now, his head was full of neatly grown and combed hair pushing him back to his younger days of charm and attraction??  When I spelt my name to him, he smiled and said that he knew me as we met several times in Madras Club!!  My inner personality rose a couple of inches and my shoulders broadened with pride as I won over my mind in finding a person known to me and with whom I shook hands!!

Nevertheless, I reconcile to the fact that I will not be able to find even that single known face in a matter of few years from now?  Acceptance of reality is sure to bring peace within??

                                   

My first entry into a 5 star hotel, delhi

It was in the year 1973, during the winters, when my Manager called me inside his cabin and invited me to a luncheon party at the Oberoi Hotel, Golf Links, New Delhi on behalf of one of our esteemed exporter client Mr Sethia who wanted to celebrate his 25 years of existence in the field of exports!  The party was to begin @10.30 hours and we were a select 15 of the staff who were given importance to be a part of this get-to-gether!
                             
As a young boy stepping into my 20th year, I was quite elated to have been given the importance by my superior!  I  ransacked my cup board to find the best outfit that could upgrade me as a smashing guy and picked the best of tweed coats to match the attire!  The next question was how to reach the 5 star hotel and some disgruntled staff who came to know about the party effectively conveyed that all of us would be stopped right at the main gate if we did not have our cars to go to the Hotel.  We formed small groups of 4 each and decided to engage a black and yellow taxi to go to the Hotel and share the expenses!

The entire group reached the famous Oberoi Hotels well before time and each group waiting for the other to join so that entry could be made together for the sake of morale strength!!  The hotel had such a wonderful lobby and most of us did not know where to go or how to hide our excitement as it was for the very first time that most of us entered a 5 star hotel!!  One of my colleagues went looking for the rest room to ease himself but came back saying the entrance to the rest room read "Kings"!!  After getting convinced by the Hotel staff that Kings meant Men, some of us ventured inside only to find that the rest rooms were neater than the work place where we worked??  Many of us giggled and chuckled to experience the aristocratic rest rooms and wondered how the rooms would be like?  Many of us resolved to come back to the hotel atleast once after getting married with respective spouses!!

Soon my Manager Mr Kanitkar and the exporter host Mr Setia joined and took us to the restaurant that had a capacity to seat at least 80 people during those times!  The tables were neatly decorated with flowers and each cushioned chair had a sparkling white napkin, a White porcelain plate with knife,fork and spoons of at least 3 sizes!  It was a comic scene to watch my friends staring at each other as to how and where to start from??  The attender pored water in each glass and helped each one to spread the napkin on their laps.  No one dared to even drink the water unless someone gave the green signal to go ahead!  Then came the much awaited Haywards Beer that was sweating from the sides of the bottle and was chilled! The drink was poured into a beer Mug which was new to us as all of us were so used to drink right from the bottle!!  The host said cheers and the entire band-wagon  started sipping and keeping the beer mugs on the table just to follow etiquette and conduct that warrants entry into a 5 star hotel?  The next 10 minutes saw everyone in their best behaviour untill the host  said" bhai log, feel relaxed, enjoy and just go for it"?  The signal was sufficient for the staff who were mostly Maharashtrians and were fond of drinking.  Most of us were unmarried and that gave us more leverage to drink and enjoy as you were far from the clutches of your wife to be  questioned?  The glasses were emptied immediately  once glued to the lip and the theory of Bottoms up emerged and within a matter of an hour, each one of us would have had atleast 2 bottles of beer(750ml) and more!

What followed next is left to imagination with many of us opening up with confidence and discussing everything that mattered??

Lunch was served and the spread was wild that included both vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes that gave all of us an experience of life time!!  The experience of entering a star hotel, having drinks and eating lunch still is embedded in my life and I recall this incident whenever I am in a star hotel with family and friends.  Thanks to Mr Setia of Eastern Exports, Naraina Industrial area, Delhi and my boss Mr Kanitkar who were magnanimous in including me to be part of this event and anything that's first is always remembered for life time??  There is no doubt Oberoi Intercontinental, New delhi is one of the best hotels in India to experience and enjoy!!

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!!