A brief memoir for a brief life.

Writing an article with a word limit? Writing an article with 1000 words or more is always easy. A rant about something has been a walk in the park for me. I have always been remembered fondly as a garrulous and an obstreperous one in any place I have made my presence. But being brief, that's a difficult one. Brevity is the soul of wit. Fine, let me try. (Yes, I know that I have already started to rant!)

A 6 word Memoir. Describe self in 6 words. Everything I have acquired or yet to acquire is  by experience. Things in life are always split into two categories. Learning and Teaching. Once I have learnt something, my job doesn't end with doing it, explore it and I have to teach it. This completes a cycle. See an eagle. An eaglet learns to fly by falling from its mother. And later, it teaches its eaglets to fly by falling. 

And here goes my 6-word Memoir. 

Learning from experiences, teaching after exploring. 

This six word memoir is part of a CBC (Chennai Bloggers Club) tag to encourage and enliven the spirit of blogging. Chennai Bloggers club is a Chennai based group through which we keep the blogging spirit alive. Discussions, learning and teaching. Apart from that, we are also constantly involved in social issues. This tag was passed on to me by Karen Xavier-Fernandez who blogs at Contemplations and Ruminations and I am passing it on to Ashwini, who blogs at Just The Way I Like

My mother is a woman and I need no other reason!

Women's day! International Women's day! What do I envision for the Women in Chennai? The question is not this! The question is not about the individual's opinion on Women. The question should be "What does the society envision for the Women in the current scenario?". Well, after so many brutal and inhuman incidents against them, people will quote rights, safety, laws, self-protection and so many as the major demands. We should start from the scratch I guess!

Almost all have dominant role playing women in their life. I am in no way an exception to that! My mother is one of the very few persons in this mortal world I am looking up to. Well I also have a small lovely sister! A lot of friends who are from this side and a lot of acquaintances too! Everyone in this God-created world must have realized the importance of women in their lives. If not the entire femininity, but at least mother, sisters, aunts, friends (Female), wife, daughters and so on. If these women take extra care on their men counter parts, the world will always be glorious. I am not blaming that everything is their responsibility but I am telling that things will be remarkable if they handle their men counterparts correctly.

What does this society envision for women?

W - Will power

O - Optimistic

M - Maturity

E - Enthusiastic

N - Noble

I recently saw a question in Quora! "Why don't we find girls doing as good in quizzing as their male counterparts?" One female quizzer replied this way, "I've taken part in my fair share of college-level quizzes and while never great or anything, I managed to win a few. On my way to food stalls after one such quiz, I overheard the all-male team from another college ribbing each other and laughing about how it was a damn shame the way they got beat by girls. My eyes burned hotly with tears and I cannot explain in words how angry and impotent I felt at that moment. It might not sound like a big deal and maybe I should have laughed it off, but I was much younger then, more fragile and thin-skinned and those random men had made me feel pretty spectacularly worthless." 

We still see them as weaker sex of the society! Once these views change, the entire concept will inverse! If you really think that they are weaker sex of the society, let me tell you something. You would not have been on this earth if not for a woman. Your mother! Your day mostly starts with her waking you up. Before you go to bath, your clothes will be kept ironed. By the time you finish, she will serve you hot breakfast with lunch packed. She will keep worrying about you if you don't give her a call after reaching your workplace. When you come back, she will give you a hot or a cold beverage depending on your mood which she will know it from your face! Which other woman you need to respect the femininity on this world? She is the embodiment of all women on this earth. Had you at least thought about your mother once, you would have never thought to degrade other women in this society. Each woman in this world attains that "MOTHER" role at some point of her life. If not for her character or actions, give the respect for this role of her. 

A serious doubt here! We, both the genders, have given the due respect for great women in history. Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher, Medha Patkar, Irom Sharmila, Rani Laxmi Bhai, Queen Victoria, Marie Curie, Indira Gandhi, Suu Kyi, Helen Keller and many. They also belong to this "so-called female section" of the society but we give them their due credit. Why is this partiality for these great women? One might answer that they all serviced and sacrificed. You think your "MOTHER" has not serviced and sacrificed? Bringing you up to hear your swear words is both service and sacrifice. Respect them! Many of us here will have sisters or female cousins. We just move our lips when we tell that single line of Pledge! "All Indians are my brothers and sisters!" Do we really think like that? If so, the Delhi incident would not have taken place! Many of us have friends who are female and yet we don't consider them equal. Today is one of my best friend's birthday who is a female! I am wishing her through this post.

We Indians have certain principles which quote Women as the embodiment of sacrifice and fragility more than any other country! We call our country Mother India. We have given feminine names to all the rivers in our country. We call our language as mother tongue! One step ahead, in myth, Shiva has given half of his body to his female counterpart Shakthi and Vishnu has given a place for Lakshmi in his heart. These may be myth yet these concepts are spread through out to make us realize the importance of this section of the society.

One may consider me as an active feminist or so! Irrespective of that, I have a cause and reason to see them equal to men! I respect them because I respect my mother, sister and my friends! I see them like I see men! Hope this International Women's day creates a change in the perspective on them!

P.S: This post is written as a part of CBC's a week long marathon on account of International Women's day! I thank Susan Deborah (Admin of CBC) for asking me to write! 

Chennai aka Madras!

This post is part of the blog tag titled, The CBC Tablog where CBC stands for Chennai Bloggers Club. About 35 bloggers from Chennai are participating in this blog tag; everyone will write about Chennai and what has attracted them here. Thanks for passing the baton to me Sylvian Patrick, a Thanjavur Karan who became Madras Karan. He is a marketer by profession, a quizzer by passion, a blogger by choice, a poet by chance,a Photographer by Hobby, a non-conformist by gene and a rebel by birth and he blogs at Sylvianism. 

Chennai! It seems more familiar and closer to me by the name "Madras" though I'd alternately use the names throughout this post. The mere thought of Madras gives me a pleasure like a child at the word 'chocolate'. I was born here, brought up here, went from here, returned here and now living here. Chennai has become an essential entity of my life. I was, am and will be fascinated by this metropolitan. Around nineteen years back, I was born in the suburbs of Chennai. Before I started to recognize things, my parents had me taken to Vellore. I became more curious and more curious about this city. The heart of the state. There are several things which attracted me as a kid and also as a grown up. 

So this city being the place where my grandparents lived, we used to visit it so often during my early years. Almost all the festivals ended up in Chennai and once in a blue moon we did that in Vellore.

"I booked tickets for us. Next weekend we are off to Chennai!"

I had been practically waiting for such conversations every day during those times. We start so happily by train and reach Chennai. The very first thing of amazement is the local electric train. I had always wondered in my childhood days why didn't we have local trains in Vellore! The trains we board at St. Thomas Mount station and the moments we wait for them are memorable. The tickets which they pull out from a machine by pressing a button, the yellow color with minute details in it, the small size with the fonts always make people like to preserve it. The long queue for the ticket counters, the people rushing up and down the stairs and the vendors on and off the platform made me curious. 

Image: Harikrishna Raghuraman

When we wait for the trains, we can see the different class of people; running for the job, hanging out just for fun, college students, vendors and the chief business men, the beggars. If you are somewhere near the airport, you can notice the flights landing and taking off. For a small child who hadn't seen a flight so close, it would be so much fun. I used to count the number of flights sitting on a bench and pronouncing those names. The weighing machines are a play thing for kids. They insert a one-rupee coin; get their card with an advice. 

Image: Harikrishna Raghuraman

The trains! Those days we had meter gauges and the broad gauges were very rare. The horn and the display were enthusiastic. Trains sub-divided to compartments; general, first class and the ladies. The seats on both side of the compartment, those handles, the fans, the windows, the doorstep, the tracks and the electric lines. I love the smoothness even today. Today I realize the advantages of these trains but those days without any reasons, I loved them. "I love trains!"

The other thing I am attracted by are the street vendors. Markets occupy both the sides of the famous streets in the city. There isn't anything you can't get in these places. Either young kids or old people manage these shops.

Image: Harikrishna Raghuraman

"Sir, three items for Rs.20!"
"Madam, take any item for just Rs.10."
"Bro, you can't get any of these anywhere else!" 

These dialogues in the Madras Slang aka Madras Bashai can easily get your attention. Speaking of which, Madras Bashai is the native slang of Madras people which is now the north Madras. This became popular all around the globe by the Tamil films and the 'gana' songs.

"Kundhu!" (Sit down)
"Saavu Graki!" (Death customer)
"Veetla soltu vantiya?" (Did you tell in your home and come?) 

These are the most famous sentences in the colloquial Tamil and one can see auto drivers using much of these. Speaking of whom, there isn't a place in Chennai without autos plying. They have their own associations, ethics and the auto-man from one stand should not pick customer from another stand. There are meters which are not used, there are indicators which are never used and there are rules which are not followed. The share autos are a new tradition today. These auto-wallas become so pious during the "Ayyappa" season. They undergo fasting for the visit to Sabarimala and they form the large part of the people visiting the holy place from our state. 

Image: The New Indian Express

The "Ayyappa" season is well-celebrated here along with other festivals. Wherever you go, you can't miss one wearing black costumes, a chain of beads, sandal and turmeric smeared on their forehead. It is the only festival other than Ganesh Chathurthi celebrated widely among all class of the people. The Margazhi month is the epitome of traditional and cultural aspects of the city on which I have already written a post which you can read here. The bhajans and the loudspeaker make this even wider.

The loudspeaker has become an inevitable part of a Chennai citizen. A political meeting, a star's birthday, a festival, a cinema release, a protest, a celebration and these cover all the areas of this city every day. Without disturbing the students or the aged, it is not customary to celebrate a phenomenon. This is an unsaid rule of Madras. This has indeed increased our noise pollution.

Speaking of pollution, it is at its acme today. The Cooum River flowing across the city with boats has become garbage carrying one. The river is at its worst condition and every political leader has made a promise to renovate it. The banks are occupied by the slums and are full of huts whose lives are dependent on this river. From washing their clothes to their pits, they do everything on this river.

The river! The tourism department arranges every day tour from Chennai till Mahabalipuram which includes a volvo bus, lunch and guide. There are a large number of places in Madras to visit. The zoological park at Vandalur, the snake and the guindy national park, the crocodile bank, the semmozhi poonga, the Marina and the Elliots beach, the Thiruvallikeni and the Mylapore temple and much more. There are buses connecting all these places. Even the remote places.

The buses are of several kinds. The white boards, yellow boards, the deluxe, Ac, ‘M’ services, ‘PP’ services ply throughout the city. Each is classified on the cost of the tickets. 21G is one of the most famous bus connecting Tambaram and Broadway. 568C connects CMBT and Kelambakkam. Another famous one. The highways are so neatly designed and the Kathipara junction is a public roller coaster which I love a lot. The government gives most of its importance to Chennai as it’s our capital.

The Government is here and so the troubles. If any political leader arrives to our state, he comes to Chennai first and there is a lot of diversions; enough to confuse the ordinary. And the airport here gives a great impression about the state to the visitors making this city full of tourists.

The word Chennai not only represents the city but the entire state. When you tell Chennai, it is Tamil Nadu and vice versa. The name Chennai is a shortened form of Chennapattanam, the name of the town that grew around Fort St. George, which was built by the English in 1639. And a few years, we are on our way for the city's 400th day. The Madras day is August 22 and the whole week is full of celebrations. The love for Madras makes its people celebrate its day. We live in Chennai and so we shall live for it.

I have written a short story based on how Chennai changed a person which involves a few scenes (not the main part!) under the title Chennai to Chennai! Now I am passing on the batom to Kalyani Ram who is a passionate new-born blogger whose blog is "ramblings and randomness".

Yet another fasting!

This has been submitted for a photo-post contest conducted by The Chennai Bloggers Club. The CBC is a Facebook group where bloggers with a Chennai connection discuss about several things and of course  about blogging.This contest has been sponsored by Cuponation which is India's largest coupon portal, specially designed to meet the needs of all online shoppers.

Images: CBC

"Hey did our cow tell you regarding our conversation?"

"This is not our cow but our master’s. When did you start conversing with a cow? What is the matter?"

"I told her that we have been starving for days and there might come a situation in the near future when we would share his food."


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Wish you a very happy and prosperous new year 2013 :)