Grey Matter

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.

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.

“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”

The stretch from Mandaveli Bus stand till the corporation ground in R A Puram has got transformed often ever since i started going by the way to my college some 5 and half years ago.But the transformation has never been for the good.The position, and the geometry of the potholes are the only change.There seems to be a eternal metro water repair work which would occupy the most of the center part the road combine with it a number of disastrous potholes due to the bad quality of road laid, they make the perfect recipe for accidents.

The road was actually relaid a few years back but it would last only a few days and was back to same shape as it was earlier. And if you happen to travel in this road beyond 10 pm you will have a lot more adventure with no proper street lights, unruly share autos and other vehicles.And if you happen to be in one of those share autos you are in for a theme park ride since some of the auto man would be either drunkard or mad man to try out every pothole on the road.

1.Crowded Laughing therapy practioners.Today its particularly crowded because a few enthusiastic ladies from a foreign tourists group has joined in the laughing and waving hands routine of the laughing therapy practioners.The other beach walkers watching them.

2.A 20 odd group of old age people, whose age might range from 60s to 80s, talking enthusiastically and greeting the late comers to the chat session.They talk among themselves so cheerfully that we may think life is so easy when you are old.

3.A batch of gujarati tourists talking bath in the sea.The young men diving into the waves.The ladies trying hard to find a place to change their wet dresses.Others taking photographs of their once in a life time visit to bay of bengal.

4.A poet or wannabe poet sitting in the wet sand in a place which is the nearest you can get to the sea without the wetting you.The poet is wearing a blue jean and is having a black pad with a few white papers.He is thinking.And its evident from the fact that his ball point pen is in his chin.As if some current would pass thorough his chin to the pen to charge it.

5.The little girl who was frightened to enter the sea and touch the water is now jumping. She is half excited – half frightened.Hand clasped tightly to her father’s.Her face is showing some emotion which i am at loss of words to express.

6.The really big sea turtle that has died is lying ashore.Along with a lot of trash that people have thrown into the sea.The trash includes but is not limited to the following:Flowers,a single chappel,liquor bottles,corns and plastics covers.

7.The teenager who is trying to capture the fisherman who are coming to the shore from the sea in his mobile camera.

8.The fishermen who are trying to bring the boat to the shore by pulling it with a rod that is attached to the rope wich covers the body of the boat.The boat is donated by Unwind Center’s Acts of Mercy.(Unwind Center is where i learn Guitar).The elder fishermen just pulling the ropes and the younger ones lifting the boat.Teamwork at its best.

9.The orange sun thats half hidden behind the clouds creating a varied intensity rays emerging from the borders of the clouds.

10.The father who is hitting the tennis ball as high as possible and the son who is catching it.The father occasionally encouraging the son with his “you can catch it” statement.

Books-Its everywhere.Written by so many people.Some as lucky as J.K.Rowling to make millions out of it.Some not so lucky, who would not have written more than a book.

I was hunting books two weeks back.I was not sure what i wanted.Hunters never go hunting thinking they will hunt only a deer.If they see a tiger they hunt that too.Thats how my book hunting also went by.Chennai lacks good libraries.But good is subjective term.Good library for me is the one which has books of my liking.Since i ruled out visiting any library, the options left where moore market,the road side book shops in Luz Corner,Landmark and Odessey.

I went first to luz corner.The road side book shops could sometime have very good books.I have earlier picked up some good tamil books written by srilankan writers from this place.But this time there wasn’t any book that i felt like reading.Then i went to moore market.Most of the books were of “self help” category.I hate the self help books.They are so artificial.When i read ‘the alchemist’ i decided never ever to read a self help book again.The Alchemist was so bad.I didn’t like the narration,didn’t accept the story or the moral behind it.

So moved over to the Landmark in the evening.The books available in these stores can be easily categorized…Self-Help,Management,Computers,Best-Sellers,a lot of Sidney Sheldon,Archer,Puzo,Ayn Rand books,some more glossy paperback books which are mostly suspense/mystery/thriller kind.And these days there are a lot of books on India itself.Books like in-spite of gods,argumentative Indian to some obscure Indian experience books by people never known.So many of them have written on India that they are occupying a whole rack in Odyssey.

As i didn’t like anything in landmark the next day i went to Odyssey.There was a discount sale going on.They where selling the a large quantity of books at discount rate.These are the books which they had either over bought or the non-bestsellers that are never bought by people.Me and my friend who came along with me searched ,read excerpts,back of the book etc., for more than 2 hours.In the end he had picked up 3 books and i picked 5 books.There was a huge queue at the shop as the discount sale was going on.
I had picked up Goodfellas,Society of others,unleashing the killer app,’The book with no name’ written by Anonymous(Really there is a book like this),and the select nonsense of Sukumar Ray(Yes he is related to Satyajit Ray.He is his father, in fact).The queue moved very slowly so I started skimming through the select nonsense book.It had some poems.After reading a few pages i came to a conclusion that i am not going to buy this book.Goodfellas has already come as a movie.i was wondering for a while whether I should see the movie itself or read the book.After a while Goodfellas was also out of the contention.Down to 3 books now.I picked ‘The book with no name’ just out of curiosity.The book cover had all the marketing elements to grab your attention.First of all a crazy name and author(Author’s name is anonymous) The back cover of the book issued warnings like ‘never ever read the book with no name’ and ‘those who read the book will die’.But then i was also afraid it might turn out to be yet another ’somebody-you-don’t-suspect-is-villain’ kind of book.(Have you recognized the pattern in Dan Brown’s books they always have this ’somebody-you-don’t-suspect-is-culprit’ end,anyway most of the suspense books is written in this format only) So i thought may not be now and dropped the idea of buying the book.So in the end i was left with Society of others and unleashing the killer app.I bought both of them since i wanted to read both fiction and non-fiction.

Morals of the story:
1.Every one wants to know what others say about them.(The number of books written on India is proof for that)
2.Never ever have queues in your shop.If you have queues people buying 5 books may decide to buy only 2 when they come to the counter