Grey Matter

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
- Samuel Johnson

With the launch of thedeprived.com i am having the opportunity to talk to various kinds of people who inspire me.

Yesterday we happened to go to two homes. One run by a mini van driver for orphans and the other run by son of Jeevanandham. (Jeevanandham is a pioneer of communist movement in Tamil Nadu)

The first one called Adheeswarar Home is run by Mr.Srikanth and his wife Ms.Latha. Srikanth owns and drives a mini-van not just for his living but also to take care of the 42 children in the home ! He must have had a lot of guts and courage to start a home with the kind of work that he does.  I haven’t had chance to interact with him yet. He apparently had gone for a driving his van to some client’s place, when we were there.

The second one is called Saranalayam, run by Mr. Manikumar. We had chance to interact with Mr.Manikumar’s wife Ms.Vijayalakshmi. Jeevanandham was a revolutionary in his times. He was a social reformer, political leader and one of the pioneers of the communist movements in Tamil Nadu. Both Manikumar and his wife are salaried employees in Government institutions. So he has his father’s legacy to look upto and continue the good work his father had done.

A small anecdote that was shared with us by Ms.Vijayalakshmi:

Jeevanandham was running a home for orphans. When Gandhi happened to visit the place he was so impressed and asked Jeevanandham “you are so young. And already running a home. What are your assets? ” for which Jeevanandham replied “India is my asset. All Indians are my asset”

Similar to what Jeevanandham replied Saranalayam is run by the support of a lot of individuals right from bank managers to a poor iyer cook.

The spirit and and courage of these people do amaze me a lot. Would love to continue my interactions with people like these exceptional individuals.

Bala has started a website for a very good cause which i strongly support. Please visit thedeprived.com and make use of the information that we plan to put on this site.

We intend to collect, authenticate and publish information about the orphanges,old age homes and homes for disabled people which are in need of funds and cannot afford to have publicity of their own.

Please note that these are not the well known homes but are the remotely placed ones that are run by passionate people with a big heart.

Kindly make use of the information that we intend to provide there and make generous donations or spend your valuable time with them in your weekends/ special days.

Long time readers of this blog would have known about the Mr. V and his unending adventures. Here goes his latest adventure :

Mr. V comes in Train. The compartment he was in, was pretty empty.

The train stops in St.Thomas Mount station. And our hero hears a lot of commotion in the station. He sees a crowd in the previous compartment. As any Indian would do,he goes to check out what the commotion is about.
Just then A RPF police man calls Mr.V.
Mr.V being the helpful person that he is goes out to help the police man.

The police man takes him to the police station. And thats when Mr.V gets suspicious. He asks the police man what does he want.

The police suddenly alleges,to the shock of Mr.V,that he was traveling in the ladies compartment.

Mr.V has never in his life traveled ladies compartment. He has a strict NO GIRLS policy.

But then the police wouldn’t believe when Mr.V says that he was just watching what the crowd was doing.

Mr. V tries to defend himself with the Sub Inspector. But he was even more ferocious. That he threw something on his hand away.

They filed a chargesheet and asked him to come to the court at 2 pm. And as security they took his mobile phone. Thats a rare mobile phone. Which could only be bought at Burma Bazaar.

Mr.V promptly went to the Egmore magistrate at 2 pm. But his case was taken only at 4 pm.

The police man accompanying him asked whether he was caught travelling for ticketless travel? or pick pocket.

Mr.V explained his sad story to him. But the police suggested him better not to tell this to the magistrate and get the case prolonged. Rather accept the crime and pay the fine today itself. That way he would save the pain of coming to the court again.

Mr.V thought that was a good suggestion from this friendly police man. This guy was like God when compared to the two police men at the station.

Mr. V was standing in the accused ring. As they show in movies. The magistrate asked him does he understand tamil. 

He nodded. Then they read out a paragraph in tamil of which Mr.V understood only the mention of  ”Ladies compartment”.

They all were looking at Mr.V now. All eyes on Mr.V. He could now take a rifle from the police man and shoot at the magistrate. And go on with a full dialogue how the society incriminated an innocent like him. Something like parasakthi dialogue. But Mr.V chose to Nod. He pleaded guilty of the offence they just read out.

He was asked to pay the fine of Rs:400 out side the room.

And thus the moral of the story is never go for a “gumbaloda govinda” you may lose 400 bucks of yours.

Acknowledgements:

1.The ever so adventurous and generous Mr.V for having these experiences and letting me write about them.

2.The people who ever caused the commotion.

3. The Indian Police and Judiciary System.

I practiced rather hard over the weekend to run in today’s Chennai marathon. I ran through the marina beach stretch yesterday early morning for practice. I was pretty confident of running the 7 km race without stopping anywhere. But i over worked by walking a lot more kilometers through out yesterday that my legs already were stiff over the morning.

A bit of Amurthanjan and stretching, I was ready for the D- day.

All that i wanted to do was to finish the run without stopping. It drizzled a bit in the morning. Suddenly some part of me was hoping it would rain heavily and everyone will stay back at home so that i would win the prize

But my silly little hope evaporated quickly as Mr.Sun came staring down at us.

I started from home. I had planned to catch a 21G bus which goes to War Memorial,which was the starting point of the marathon. I was waiting at my bus stop and three 21G ’s came and none of them stopped. Then did i realize that 21G does not stop in yellow pages (My stop) on one way.

I walked till the next stop and waited for the bus. No buses for the next 30 min. I thought by now the buses would have been diverted and started walking towards beach.

Even pedestrians like me were diverted as the 21 Km race was already going on. Throughout the way i saw people from all walks of life walking towards war memorial. It is probably a 4 to 5 km walk from Gandhi statue to war memorial.

I already had walked 8 km before a 7 km race. Perfect. The Sun was suddenly blazing heavily.

When i saw a empty train going over the chepauk bridge did i think i could have come by train. But then common sense is such a rarity for me.

When i finally reached the starting point there were already millions of participants in front of me. And millions of them behind me. It was like a big political party procession. No one was running. And no one can run standing in middle of such a huge crowd. Until a few meters down the road i wasn’t able to run. Then suddenly the road widened and i had enough space to dodge people and run. I started running.

The turn near the Omandurar’s estate is such a narrow place that everybody was back to the crawling mode.I tried not to stop so kept moving in between people at times jumping over to the foot path.

There was procession like attitude in most of the people. They carried placards like “save the trees” and Aids control. Good that they want to spread some awareness but that left me little space to run.

And there were corporate employees who were out to make team building exercise. Lets take a group photo here. And lets take a group photo there.

Back to the Marina stretch. School kids were standing all along the stretch playing band music and cheering the runners or should i say walkers. I waived at a bunch of school girls who were in the cheering crowd. And they started making even more noise. Yay! Felt like an Hero

And nobody ahead of me ever cared to make a u turn in light house and come back to Gandhi beach. There was a huge human traffic Jam in Gandhi beach that even i gave up running beyond that. And did i say by now i had stopped for 3rd time. At the Gandhi statue desk teachers were calling their lost students,friends were calling their lost friends,fathers’ were calling their lost sons. Basically everybody was calling everybody.

Over all it was a pretty good run even though i had stopped in between a few times. I could know that from my legs which was so light that I didn’t feel lifting them.

Sun. Sweat. Tan. Breath. Run. Been There. Done That.

Sriperumbudur is now Thiruperumbudur.But our politicians are missing the bigger picture.Every place name in chennai has a story behind it.They might want to change almost every place name if they know about these stories.

Take for example a seemingly tamil name such as kodambakkam- it is actually Goddamn Beckhem.
Now dont ask such a silly question like how did they name kodambakkam even before beckham was born,haven’t you heard of Nostradmus.He predicted everything thats possible including finding the value of infinity.Early chennaites deciphered some of his predictions to name their place names.They were so intelligent that they played around with words to create names. The royal beings of contemporary royapettah named their place as “Royal! Bet Ah?”
Note here “bet ah” is a gutsy term asking is there anybody to protest their claims.

The ever skeptical citizens of Alwarpet said “All war bet?” They thought people would go at war to show who is more royal.

There were few who doubted the claim to royalness by asking “Royala aprom..” That became Royapuram.

But the beings in current saidapet supported royapettah’s claim by asking “Sari da bet ah?”

Then there is this whole place named after tamil brahmins. Tam Brahm is a colloquial term for refering to Tamil Brahmins. Tam Brahm is the present day Tambaram. The anti- brahministic movement leaders certainly missed out to notice this.

A dumb beckham is Adambakkam
Patni Beckham is Pattinapakkam

Like this so many beckham bashing places are there in chennai.But why beckham? What has chennai got against beckham? Well, thats the Victoria’s secret.

Finally i have jumped the ship. Quit the Aircel and joined the Airtel bandwagon.

My first day of Airtel made me realize how much i have really missed. I had some problem with activation. I called customer care and somebody picked,spoke courteously,fixed my problem, which was as simple as switching off and switching on the phone.Even though it was “Duh!” question for him he answered my questions properly.

And guess what, i received an instant SMS to give feedback about his customer service.I can SMS to the toll free number if i was dissatisfied with the customer service !

This reminds me of my tryst with Aircel customer service(was there one) earlier. They had cut my prepaid connection! for no reason. When i called the customer service number it was either always busy,keeps ringing and no one picks up,or somebody picks up and doesn’t give a proper reply.After two days the most effective of the replies i got was that i have to come to the Aircel main office in spencers.Only then they can fix the problem.And getting things done from the people at main office was as difficult as working with government office people.

Aircel would change the plans without even sending out an SMS to inform the customers.

Airtel: Fantastic! you bowled me over.

Aircel: Better concentrate on customer service or you might lose out on your every so decreasing customer base.

In the past few days i have been walking a lot and that too in the late nights and early mornings. When i was back to the city last weekend i was dropped off at tambaram at 2 am in the morning. Luckily there was a night service bus that was going to Broadway. Me and my friend got down at Gemini flyover, searched for any 24 hour coffee shop in nungambakkam area so that we need not wake up others at home.But then there was no shops open at that time of the day,

Yesterday i walked a even longer distance because of Kulfi. I saw a Kulfi man on the way to the bus stop. It was so tempting that i bought one. Don’t know why most of these Kulfi guys sell only at night.While i was buying the Kulfi a bus passed me.And that happened to be the last bus.
Had to walk back home again.

I always get some crazy experiences when walking in the night.Yesterday there was a handicapped man driving Kinetic Honda near Gemini Flyover.The guy suddenly stopped the vehicle near the American Embassy and started lying down on the road. Me and one police, who was patrolling near the embassy,went near him to see if he needs some immediate medical attention. We called him out asking what happened.And does he need any help. The fellow coolly said he felt like taking rest so he slept there. He was completely drunk. Now this is a paradox. He is handicapped so that should evoke sympathy but he is drunk and crazy. The police was still in his sympathy mood that he never booked him under drunken driving.  We asked him not to sleep on the road–either get back home or sleep on the pavement.

Then there are these street dogs. Most dogs look up, recognize you,and get back to their licking ways.But some starts barking vociferously.

Some of the observations made in these walks:

At 11:00 pm you will find a big crowd near Tasmac shops as thats their closing time.And the nadar kadai owners close their shops.Do puja and leave in their M80 bike.

At 12:00 am the ones that were crowding the Tasmac shops will be found lying around in the streets.Fast moving bikes and cars with blazing sound are predominant.

At 2:00 am there is no one around.Its only you.Occasionally few cars and police men might pass by you.All the night security men will be found sleeping.

Finally any city is beautiful at night.A walk down the Gemini Flyover at 2:00 am when no vehicle is around is a good thing to do when you have nothing else to do.

“come lets go soon.Its already 8.I have to be at home by 9″
“Ok where to go? what to buy?”
“That is the million dollar question.How about clock?”
“Clocka..thats is so 20th century.He would get n number of clocks”
“Ok come soon.We will decide after going to the shop.”
“Ok.”

8.10 pm
“Hey we will go inside vitan and see if anything interesting is there”
“Its not vitan anymore.Its nishant foods private limited”
“Yeah.That owner is a KD.Opened as franchise for vitan.Learnt the trade from them now having his own brand.”
“Nishant paruppu,nishant arisi”
“Thats what man.We must market our own products.Thats where you can get much profit.Remember Nilgiris.They did it first.”

8.20 pm
“Nothing interesting here man.Only clocks.Which i am totally against and some flower vases.”
“Yes.Is there any other shop?”
“There is one at gopalpuram.Its got better collection than this one.”
“Come lets go there and see”

8.45 pm
“Man that shop is closed.Its SUNDAY.”
“My,my.. is there anyother shop near by.”
“Guess not.Don’t people in goplapuram give gifts at all.No gift shops around.”
“Come lets go back.”
“Mea Culpa.We shouldn’t have come to gopalpuram.We should have gone towards luz.”
“What is Mea Culpa.”
“That is Latin man.Meaning my mistake.Its fashionable these days to mix foreign languages while speaking English.Just as people mix English while speaking Tamil.”
“Yes.We can blabber something and state that it is in Malta language.People will go like Maltava..where is it? you know that language.”

8:50 pm
“Lets go towards music academy.There we will have shops.”
“What is this man.We could have got the clock itself.Don’t even know what to gift.”
“Thats why we must have girlfriends.You know by this time we would have developed the habit of gifting.
Remember this is first anniversary of the day you saw me at the beach-gift.Remember this is the second anniversary of the day you gave me a slap-gift.”
“Ah.Girlfriends! very bad man.See this kareeena kapoor,aishwarya rai and the likes.Kareena thought poor Shahid would become big someday.But when she realised this fellow is not of any use switched to Saif.Its all money man.”

9:00 pm
“Now we have to take a desicion.”
“Decisiona.Adapaavi.I thought you will show some shop here.Standing in middle of the road and saying we have to take a decision”
“Yes.We have to take a decision.We have to decide whether turn left,right or go straight.”
“What is the probability of availability of shops on a sunday on cathedral road.Lets find out by going right.”
“Yes there must be some shops in front of Chola.”

9:15 pm
“Man what happened to the shops that were here?”
“That was long time back.No gifts shops out here.”

9.20 pm
“Hey remember that grains.”
“What grains?”
“That thing man.Soft grains? pillow”
“Oh Yes that snow bean pillow.”
“We used see it lifestyle.And he is fond of them.That would make a perfect gift.”
“If only you had got this idea when we were at my home,we would have saved one and half hour of walking”
“Now how to go to lifestyle”
“We will catch a bus.But murphy’s law states that we will not get the bus when we urgently reqire it”
“Will lifestyle will be open now?”
“Dunno .”

9:30 pm
“At last.See the lifestyle closing time.10 pm.Lucky for us.”
“Lets go see other things if we did not find anything else, we will buy the snow bean pillow itself”

“How about candles? He can light this at his room and feel romantic.”
“His father will give a long stare at us.Thinking what these guys are”
“Ok.How about this vase”
“This doesn’t look like a vase.Looks like a very huge beer pint.”
“If he had been a drunkard we can happily give this filled with beer”

“Hey shall we give that baby carriage.He will need it one day”
“But the mother of the baby in that would kick us that we are kidnapping her child”
“Oh that is not for sale.I thought it was also for sale”

“Its going to be 10.Lets better get the pillow itself.”
“Ok.We will gift wrap it here itself.Do they gift wrap it here?”
“I will better ask.”

10:00 pm
“This queue its taking longer.Go to the next queue.Its already 10.These people are moving out!”

10:10 pm
“we have bought it.But nobody is left to gift wrap it.”

10:15 pm
“Lets do it tomorrow morning.But i dont think any shop would be open by 7 o clock.”
“Lets see.No other go.Take this home.”
“I am not taking this home.I dont want any scoldings from my parents.They might ask would anyone give a pillow as gift.”
“Adapaavi.But we have to gift wrap it.”
“Dont worry i will buy the wrap and cello tape we will do it ourselves.You had to be in the house by 9.Go home soon.”

Next day morning 7:00 am

“Man no shops.No gift papers.”
“Lets go to his place and see there if any shop is near by.”

7:20 am
“We will check out in this street”
“These people are looking as if we are some aliens.”
“Yes.I dont think this area has any shops.We will ask someone.”

7:23 am
“We will ask the watch man of his building.He will no better.”
“Yes”

“He is saying there are no shops here.We have to go to doveton it seems.Where is this doveton?”
“Who knows”
“Man.Idea.We will buy the morning newspaper.And gift wrap it in that.And say that it is the latest fashion.”
“No way.Gift means it must be in that glittering glittering sheets”

7:30 am
“It is of no use.Searching for a shop early in the morning.You keep this in your bag.We will call him outside.And give it to him.”
“No man.That will not look good.”

7:45 am
“We will ask someone in that barber shop”

“He is simply pointing to some potti kadai.I dont think that shop has gift wraps”

8:00 am
“Man lets try that potti kadai.Last try”

8:05 am
“Do you have gift wraps?”
“He is signalling he is having it.”
“Please gift wrap this.Use how many ever paper you want.”
“3 cheers to Kavitha Stores.The only store with gift wrap on a monday morning in the whole of neighbourhood”

When ever Deccan Chargers loses The New Indian Express gets excited.It prints the news as DC loses. DC loses again.DC loses yet again etc., for it is one way of mocking Deccan Chronicle who is the owner of the team and a competitor to Indian Express.

Meanwhile Times of India which chose to refer the DC team as Team Hyderabad initially have started refering to them as Deccan Chargers.It was funny to read when they referred all other teams with their proper names(such as Kolkata Knight Riders) but only their competitors team as Team Hyderabad.

Nada Nada Nada is the new anthem of a few rock fans.This is a song from a malayalam rock band called Avial.I have heard these songs some pretty long back.But it is now that the band is finally releasing their eponymous debut album called Avial.

Avial is, by the way, a food dish which is a mixture of many vegetables and coconut.

The other band that i have been hearing to long enough now is junkyard groove.This band is from chennai.They have a song called folk you where the singer goes thanthana thane thanthana thane.Its a folksy catchy song.

These rock bands not only capture the local musical flavour but also the poets.Recently i caught glimpse of Raghu Dixit project.Their popular Hey Bhagwan is a reggae style song.Gudgudiya is written by Sant Shishunala who they say to be Kabir of Karnataka.

The first time i listened to somebody make contemporary song out of famous poet/song was when Susheela Raman played in chennai some years back.She sang a few songs which are normally sung in carnatic fashion.

And finally anybody for a TR tribute band? Dandanakka,danakkunakka.