Field Report on Chennai Trip

1. The city has changed quite a bit. There are more flyovers, better looking roundabouts with random statues, Hyundai Accent cop patrol cars,(i know its been a while, but im yet to get used to it), much better bus services than most cities in india and yet the traffic situation has only worsened!!

2. The airport still sucks.

3. Glad to report that I've improved on my negotiating skills. I've been training on this and having live coaching sessions with Chennai auto drivers. I believe the trick is to have a thick skin and give it to them as good as u get it. [never let them know where u exactly live, always stop 2-3 houses away]

4. The weather is as muggy as ever.

5. They have a new joke at the Satyam cineplex. Its a running gag played on all visitors. They call it their security screening.

6. Saw Kaminey and Hangover at Satyam, both were very good movies. I missed watching Quick Gun Murugan in Chennai.. :-(

7. Mother and Sister have been indulging in dirty butter chicken politics at home. Mom cooks biryani and sis cooks butter chicken and I'm the judge as to which was better. Lot of insinuations and insidious planting of false information happening to sway my decision. Im thinking I should declare a mistrial and asked them to start over :-))

8. Saw the biggest black boxer running on the main road off Chintamani in Anna Nagar. Mad cap canine narrowly missed an accident, and was terrified so bad that he sprinted away in the other direction to cause another accident there!

9. My search for a new viable mobile device, has not broken any new boundaries, with each phone having its own distinct disadvantages. Guess its time to go back to the old routine of choose one and hope its the ONE!

Happy Independence Day

62nd anniversary of our independence and then the sacrifices that my countrymen have made to ensure that we continue to be free. Its the triumph of an idea! India is just that, an idea - "An idea whose time has come" [to quote Dr.M, PM]. In this country, I've been to places, beautiful places, met people, wonderful people, have had experiences, exhilarating experiences and have been afforded opportunities, exhilarating opportunities, all because of the fact that I am an Indian.

We are a country that is huge and could have easily been divided into 30 or more separate countries, just on the basis of language, caste or religion alone. Every day there are opportunistic people who would like to break it up on just these lines, just to seize their pound of flesh. The State has to be preserved and protected against such forces.

If these forces had succeeded, my life would have been totally different. I would have been an illegal alien in the city where I was born. I would have been educated in foreign languages. Would have required a visa to complete my higher education. Would have needed a work permit to do the job i currently do. Would have been in love with foreigners. Would have had to surrender my passport at the concierge of the guest house i currently am put up in. I'm not even going to broach the discrimination and daily indignities I would have to put up with during my daily life. Not that its not there today, but it could have been much more vulgar and exacerbated.

I'm grateful for the freedoms that I have. I recollect staring at the road in Hyd a few days back and wondering, how would I feel if we had a few white men coming down on horses and if I had to move to the side of the road in obeisance. I shuddered with indignation. It was just a moment. But I thought, we rather have our burra sahibs than them gora sahibs.

I am grateful for the freedoms I have. But I wonder if all our countrymen have the same freedoms. I wonder what this lady in the clip thinks of our independence. Does she feel free? - Jai Hind.

I Love Bangalore

I have not traveled as much in my life as I would have liked to. But from this limited exposure, I've always found Bangalore to be the most humorous city. No other city has tickled my funnybone as much as this city of "Gardens". Bangalore's funniness is indeed Oscar-class. The main reason I say that is because, its a city that is funny without even trying to be funny.

This is a city which has been built on the free market reforms of the 1990's. No other city in India has seen so much change or seen as much wealth pour in as has Bangalore due to the opening up of the Indian economy. So one would expect that they would be open to innovation and competition right? Wrong.
These gentlemen would rather imitate the struthio camelus than see the world change around them. Now where is the humor in this, you might ask.



The biggest superstar/megastar of this city, ladies and gentlemen, is Puneet Rajkumar. And this is a still from his latest movie, posters of which are splashed all over Bangalore. This is what gets me all cracked up en route to office. He bears a very uncanny resemblance to Jack Sparrow no? sorry Captain Jack Sparrow. Now you know why them firangs are assaulting Indians in Australia and strip searching them in the American airports. No Shahrukh, it wasn't because your name was Khan. They thought you were this dude!!

And now for the real screamer - the Kannada movie industry is called Sandalwood! Hollywood, Bollywood, Kollywood, Lollywood and now Sandalwood :-))

I would also love to tell you about how in the city of Vijay Mallya, the local Hard Rock Cafe closes earliest amongst all its 140 sister franchisees around the world, allegedly. But that ain't comedy. Its the tragedy of Bangalore [along with it new name]

Last Words - The Beatles

"I thank you on behalf of all the group and hope we passed the audition" - John Lennon

Last words spoken by the Beatles after their last concert together.

Bangalored

For good or bad, whether I like it or not, my professional life revolves a lot around Bangalore. The company that I currently work for is headquartered here. Consequently, I get summoned at short notice here. I have previously blogged about this. But there are added dimensions to this - like the bus journey. A very uncomfortable 12 hr bus journey, that just about took me to the brink of spinal injury. And once I land in Bangalore, haggling with the auto guys, while balancing a full bladder!! I always rated the auto-drivers in Chennai as the scum of the earth. Their Bengaluru counterparts are fast catching up!

Then once into the auto, I face the bloody Blore weather - mild enough to make me feel cold but not cold enough for a jacket [yes delhi winters have changed my thick skin]. With all this trying to get to the company guest house is another challenge, its like a treasure hunt, if im not booked into our well known office campuses. I try to get ready in a jiffy and invariably reach office 30 mins late [traffic]. This follows dirty looks from colleagues, which invariably includes bosses. Then start the review and the questions - stuff which are in my KRA's but somehow I seem to end up doing all but that work. Then comes the dreaded hour, lunch time. Lousy canteens they have in our Blore offices, except for one. I make up excuses to avoid lunch, from too much work to im on a diet. [All plausible excuses but somehow ppl never believe me!].

Then siesta time, try to do some work, at the same time trying to fix a cab to take me back to the bus station! No matter how hard i have tried, i have mostly failed in this. Bangalore has lousy EasyCab / Meeru taxi service. On the odd occasion like this time, when i need to extend my stay, i end up holed up in the guest house over the weekend. With all my friends ditching me, due to their own busy schedules, I end up saddled with ppts, xl sheets and Ndtv going on and on about rakhi sawant's swayamvar.
[Guess rationality skips men too on a mass scale, sometimes].

Well all ye Americans, this is what happens to the people to whom some of your jobs go to. And ya, i suspect my salary cud be less than your unemployment benefits... So stop bitching about us..and let us bitch about ourselves.