Some Views of Chennai-My Lens-3-people and the Marina Beach

The floozies are back.
My experience of Chennai was mostly through the tinted windows of a taxi and from within the airconditioned environs of the hotel Marina. Went to another Hotel Ambica Empire too and had breakfast at the Le Meridien. Hotels all over the world are same, built and operated similarly, have similar loos and ounce packets of soap and shower caps. Even the uniforms are the same even though the people arent. Some of the bellhops however were pretty impressive.


This one at Ambica Empire had a moustache I would give half of my greying beard for.
The one at Le meridien was a liitle more contemporary and even said thank you when I took his picture.


On the choked roads are a variety of people, I liked the 1000 yeard stare on this guy. This was during a particularly virulent traffic jam.

A woman who asked me for some money, somethings never change. I had none either. So we drove on leaving her to look for other more generous souls.

Women from Chennai are most beautiful though, Anuradha Sriram performed at the banquet in MGM beach resorts. And isnt she absolutley beautiful. I was quite heartbroken to know that she is married. She was however happy to pose for me. And i took this picture. Must say the steadiness of my hands imroves with booze in my system.

Another example of steadiness of hands, 15 seconds exposure hand-held on the shore of the bay of Bengal, racked with pain from a couple of compressed nerve roots in the back, I took this picture as the sound of the waves crashing to the shore and the light of the moon shining on the sea combined with the alcohol to anesthetize my back first and my brain later. Luckily there was a policeman with a very ample baton who took particularly good and effective care that no one reach the water itself. Otherwise ANCIPS 2007 may have reached a more tragic and eventful end than it eventually did.

The Marina Beach is the main landmark?? of the city of Chennai. We went there early in the morning to catch the sunrise. Not surprsingly the car failed to show up to take us there, and after a lot of sham anger outbursts, we finally got one and reached there. It was just as well that we missed the sunrise because there was a huge bank of clouds that made visibility poor. Walking from the road to the beach is an effort, its a huge distance and the sand is soft and very sticky. The beach front was littered with lots of wooden structures. But there was no one around at that moment, it was evidently a lot more crowded in the evenings.

There were a few scattered souls around like this old salt who had a tough time getting p. Compassion isnt one of my strong points, I took his picture instead of helping him up. Shame on me.
Two seashell sellers on the Marina beach. What would it be then, he sells sea shells on the sea shore??? Hardly a tongue twister.
And finally, an intersting shack that sells sea food at better times and to more receptive customers. Is this why the Titanic sank??

The walk back left my already ventilated shoes with a pound of clarified sand that I left behind in the Hotel room. I hope their vacuum cleaners still work.

Some Views of Chennai-My Lens-2-Temple

Temples in Chennai are numerous, dotted with very many sculptures, beautiful, and are pronounced as Dembled's. And all this in a state that has an atheist as a Chief Minister and a very strong rationalist movement. Tamil Nadu is truly fascinating in that way, the whole business of paradoxes. The extreme contrasts in sizes, from the immensity of the hoarding to the smallness of the dwellings. The way caste plays a role as demonstarted at all public functions, and the lengths mighty and learned people will go to appease their politicians, the seeming strangeness to us North Indians as to how movie stars and politicians can arouse such passions.
Next to the venue was a small temple, and it seemingly encapsulated this contrast in it's domain.
I needed a human element to complete this picture and saw this little girl nearby, and asked her through a sign to come and stand there. She was quite shy and reluctant but was eventually persuaded by this man. The simplicity of her dress was quite a contrast to the bright, in-your-face colors in the temple. Quite opposite to what would be the case in say, rajasthan where its the clothes that are colorful rather than the other way round. I found the cross tattooed on the chest of the guy who persuaded my little model quite interesting, and before I could ask him to let me photograph him, he asked me to take his picture and insisted that I write his address twice just to make sure thatI dont lose it anyplace.

He looked at me through his one eye, obviously pleased to be the centre of attraction. For the next few minutes that i was in the temple, he never once left my side. And kept on saying some stuff to the security staff nearby. I have to post his picture to him one of these days.

I liked the grain of the wood and the way the brass set off the woodwork. The sanctum itself was locked.

But there were various niches in the walls, each with a small idol. The idols covered with clothes (to cover the body?), and decorated with flowers.

This looks like hanuman, the monkey god. At least the structures in the front are typically North Indian though the main idol in the background is much more dignified and reserved in appearance.

Another view of the same.

Dalrymple Fan Club

I have recently become a fan of William Dalrymple. It all started when I went crazy enough to buy a book as expensive as the Last Mughal is. Well, to keep a long story short, I loved it. Subsequently, I kept on getting deeper and deeper into his writing. My second Dalrymple book was In Xanadu, and I think this has to be seriously one of the funniest, most moving and unputdownable travelogues ever. Unfortunately, since this travelogue did not include India, I went on to the City of Djinns that I am reading right now. And except for the fact that he describes Chandigarh (My hometown), in less than glowing terms, I agree in most part with what he says.
Come to think of it, this name Dalrymple, something like a Dal-Rymp-Pel. Almost like a variant of acne vulgaris or something but better. Mr Dalrymple, I wish I had a turn of phrase half as good as yours. I was googling about him, and found this article, do have a read.

ANCIPS-2007-3

Some more views from the Conf:

ANCIPS-2007 was a lot of heat and dust, some powercuts, an award, and some papers presented to an audience of 7 people in total. At other times I enjoyed myself watching friends eat prawns for breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, and dinner. For entertainment, there were cricket matches on TV and beer (which is devilishly expensive in Chennai). An abiding memory will be that of someone reading out a paper from the printout because a powercut prevented the projectors from working.

The president of "kill the fishes" society surveys the remains of the day.

Life is like smoke, it goes up and splits into a million particles. And you cant even catch one, so why not let it go in peace?

The food was wonderful, but only for non-vegetarians. Poor grass eaters like me had a tough time. There is also a south Indian problem with provision of chairs. All those already burdened with a variety of loads were left with no option but to make themselves comfortable with whatever they could muster.



Soon enough the food stall was a happy, bustling, bawling and a really fine place to be in. Beating a hasty retreat was out of question but lingering on was an even unlikelier option. So the next best thing was to be out into the scientific sessions.



The inauguration of the CME, where everyone was falling over fawning. What followed was much better.


I loved this slide, and hats off to the doctor who thought this up.

Some of the more interesting members of the audience, actually he was the resident entertainer at a stall outside, he probably came in to take in some AC.


OKOKOKOK. I dont mean what you see at all, but I couldnt resist this one. :))

The Dog Song

A very very very old friend wrote this as a comment for the previous post and I think this is so fantastic that it deserves its own post.
Thanks Tataastha.



Dogs Paradise (street dogs org)

As I sleep through the night at marina beech
I take a look at my life and realise there's not much left
Cause I've been barking and barking so long that
Even my mamma thinks that my mind is gone
But I ain’t never crossed a man that didn't deserve it
Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of
You better watch how you taking your shots, and where you walking
You know dogs have a way of finding their way

Tell me why are humans are so blind to see
That the ones you hurt are me and my folks.
Tell me why are you so blind to see
That you are invading my privacy

I been spending most my life living in the dog’s paradise
I am nothing but a street dog in diguise


Look at the situation, you got me facing
I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the street
I tried to look like a Camouflage so I can escape the man’s eye
I guess it didn’t work out so well,
Even Evolution didn’t show any mercy on us.

Death ain’t nothing but a heartbeat away
I'm living life do or die, what can I say
I'm 10 now but will I live to see 11
The way things is going I don't know
But you don’t wanna know these things
You just wanna a shot.

I been spending most my life living in the dog’s paradise
I am nothing but a street dog in diguise

lyrics - gangsta\'s paradise

Bhateja's Request

My friend Gaurav Bhateja made a quirky request, he wanted to see some dogs from Tamil Nadu. I hope this is what he meant.


At the Marina Beach, almost stepped on it, looked so much part of the sand.



At Mahabalipuram, this is an example of evolution in action, the dog merges in with the surroundings so well.

At the MGM beach resorts, this was something akin to the bird of paradise, no need for disguise. Only attraction.

Some Views of Chennai-My Lens-1

Lord Tirupati display at T Nagar, Chennai

I had the oppurtunity to roam about some parts of Chennai and take some pictures along the way.

The first thing is the heat, the second is the absolutely chaotic traffic. The drivers are too crazy or too skilful. Any place where a vehicle can go will be taken, I wonder how many people lose their lives in RTA's every year. In Chennai, drive at your own peril.

Chennaiites and Tamils in general are great lovers of hoardings, posters, and various other modes of making their presence felt. These hoardings are immense, varied in topic and description. Lately, Karunanidhi and Stalin are particular favorites. In towns of Tamil Nadu, there is one literally every 100 yards or so. And are monotonously same, the CM, The CM in waiting and then a small picture of whichever local leader has put up that poster. Just to spice up things there were a few of Rajnikanth and Jayalalitha as well.


If there is no space available, then space will be created.

Some concerns however cross all barriers and are common like this one.




The Tamil penchant for immensity in public finds full expression in the shopping area of T-Nagar, the shops are immense, the hoardings even more so, movie stars, politicians, models, clothes, silk, jewellery all vie for your attention. I walked into a famous shop by the name of Nalli, seeing a sikh in a suit and tie, everyone was naturally intrigued. When I expressed the desire to buy a sari, they took me deep into the bowels of the shop to show me saris worth many thousands. They were pretty crestfallen when I told them the limits of my pocket and I made a quick transition to the less esteemed customer category with ease.

The only hoarding I really liked, partly because he is the only other Sikh i saw in Chennai.

ANCIPS-2007-2

Some views of the conference-

ANCIPS is always like a mela (An indian fair), noisy, crowded, Chennai being hot and dusty, the scene was almost completely met. It took an hour to get to the venue, me and Padhy sweating in our ties and suits. Looking on wistfully at those smart enough not to have worn something as stupid as we did.

When we reached the venue, these guys took me by surprise. they were quite enthusisatic about being in the welcome party. Couldnt figure out what was there to be so happy about.


Espescially with "Beloved" Dr Ramadoss around.

Well, the AC in the auditorium was pretty good though, even if what transpired inside wasnt always so. So people went to the stalls put up by the pharmaceutical companies. They promised to be more interesting mostly.

The welcoming committee wasa welcoming enough, 3 giggly teenagers putting tilak on all who came. They were very happy to be photographed, probably seeing a sikh for the first time.


A memento for the mantelpiece from chennai. Courtsey XX pharma company. All for a tablet of escitalopram.


People doling out advice to those challenged in slipping away.


And at the end of a tough day gathering freebees, nothing better than a good sofa and a coffee.

Where are we all going???

ANCIPS-2007

Annual National Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society-2007, Chennai, India.

"Depression is an unpleasant state of mind, most people with depression are not happy".-Statement at the conference

I had the good fortune to be able to attend the ANCIPS-2007 at Chennai, South India. As I have never been south and I had to present a couple of papers, it promised to be good. I left with my friend Dr Sushant, who as is his wont, was weighed down with loads of luggage. After an uneventful and pleasant train journey, reached the New Delhi airport, caught the flight to Chennai. And walked into 30 degrees celsius of heat from the cold of Delhi, wearing a heavy jacket, a warm shirt and a muffler. And feeling about as unlikely as a polar bear in the sahara desert.

Dr Padhy and his bags


Tea Break In The Train

Kamraj Airport, Chennai

Back from Chennai

I am back from Chennai, prepare for some Tamil flavor.