Become fat to become lean!

Placed @ a retail outlet, the leaflet says first you eat then you win a discount coupon to join a weight loss program

Sachin@200 n.o

" Not much else in my mind for the rest of the day." Walter Crocker, on Jawaharlal Nehru's death in 1964

Same was my state after watching Sachin Tendulkar's 200 n.o knock against South Africa on Feb 24, 2010 at Gwalior, India.

Chennai- City of Wall Murals!


More and more wall murals are being commissioned in Chennai. This time its in Cathedral Road.


This stretch of beautiful paintings is at Nandanam, Mount Road, commissioned in 2009.


You see hottest tourist spots in Chennai, Paintings of Raja Ravi Varma.But the concern is how can we protect these paintings?


Here you see one mural, new and bright but,


Due to dust,rain and heat, have a look at the same mural after few months


its not even a year that these paintings were commissioned and Chennai didn't get much rain last year


Then I saw one guy whitewashing the fence!



Lets hope its for the betterment! Unless some measures are not taken to maintain these paintings, there is not point in the effort made by various artists (and Chennai Corporation of course.)

Daily dosage from the world of books

"People who study others are wise but those who study themselves are enlightened."

The Monk who sold his Ferrari

Its TED day again, this time Kevin Kelly talking about the evolution of Technology

Kevin Kelly tells technology's epic story | Video on TED.com

Image of the week

The Spraying Buddha!!

The Buddha spraying Rose water with the help of an automated sprayer, found in a wedding!

TED Active learnings for TEDX Chennai

This TEDX Chennai organisers' meets I tell you, are always filled with 'TED moment(s)'. Truck load of informations are shared,some times experiences too

So on 21 Feb 2010,Kiruba Shankar, who attended TED Active 2010,Palm Springs, California had some wonderful insights and experiences to share.Information that will surely help in making a great TEDX Chennai experience. Here are few to share

1.How one can get the best speakers through crowd sourcing- learning from TEDX Amsterdam

2. Not to treat TEDX Chennai as an event, but as the culmination of month/year long selection of great people and inturn great ideas

3. How vital the various pre TEDX events are, like TEDX conversations with TEDX Stars

4. The power of wish lists

5. To plan well in advance as if TEDX Chennai is happening in June and not in Oct and

6. (Not really applicable to TEDX Chennai)How to find a hotel with great difficulty in Palm springs, near to the TED Active venue, feel blessed, rush to the hotel then realise that its a Gay hotel!and experience the real TED moment(read TED shocker)

But our TED moment came when Kiruba showered all of us with



Ted2010 limited edition Artist tote




TEDX Chennai badges


Chocolates




TED Pouch

Now its time to DO, to create a great TEDX Chennai moment!

Nine interesting facts from Nine Lives!

Nine Lives by William Dalrymple is a wonderful read. Its an interesting travelogue, in search of sacred in modern India. The book inspired me to post 9 interesting facts I found in the book.

1. The Nun's Tale- Prasannamati Mataji, Digambara jain nun

Buddhist ascetics shave their heads and beg for food, Jains pluck their hair out by the roots and have to have their food given to them without asking

2. The Dancer of Kannur- Hari Das;Theyyam dancer

Theyyams are believed to be a rare survival of pre-Aryan , non Brahminical Dravidian religious system

3. The Daughters of Yellamma- Rani Bai, the devadasi

There are around 2,50,000 devadasis in the state of Maharashtra and Karnataka, about half of them living around Belgaum

4. The Singer of Epics- Mohan Bhopa from Pabusar

The great Rajasthani medieval poem, The epic of Pabuji is 600 year old, has around 4000 lines and takes full five nights of eight hours to complete recitation

5. The Red Fairy- Lal Peri; Sufi of Sehwan

Sufis believe the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for remembering and reaching God

6. The Monk's Tale- Tashi Passang;Tibetan Buddhist monk

Buddhist monks are expected to do around 4000 prostrations in a day

7. The Maker of Idols-Srikanda Stpathy

The idol's eyes must be carved open between 4 a.m to 6 a.m, when there was no sound or disturbance which might upset the deity

8. The Lady Twilight- Manisha Ma Bhairavi;the Tarapith tantric

In order to cure the skull, bury it in the earth and then oil it

9. The Song of the Blind Minstrel-Kanai

Charvaka school rejected the idea of God and professed that no living creature was immortal

Daily dosage from the world of books

" Perfection, it is said, is in trifles, but perfection is no trifle."

Beyond the last blue mountain

A slideshow of statues of Chennai




To start with the statue of the last Maharaja of Travancore, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma

The statue is at Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Adyar, Chennai.

Image of the week

When Matinee idol met the super star of south!

No am not talking about SRK or Aamir meeting Rajnikanth or Mohan Lal!




The year was 1971 when Rajesh Khanna was the matinee idol and Gemini Ganeshan was the superstar





Found this advertisement appeared on June 5, 1971 in The Hindu, announcing the store opening of Sonali!

Devdutt Pattanaik, Chief Belief Officer,Future Group, looks at business and modern life through the lens of mythology.


Devdutt Pattanaik: East vs. West -- the myths that mystify | Video on TED.com


"We're looking at stories that have lasted the test of time, like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bible. That's proof of their effectiveness."
Devdutt Pattanaik

Daily dosage from the world of books

" Passengers may be delayed but must never be lost. Mail may be lost but must never be delayed."

Aero-Postale's motto

Chinese invasion: The Nanfeng way!

The Chinese continue to play a major role in our lives, whether its mobiles,toys,gift items or balms!

This time, its "Nanfeng gongju",the small-fruited mandarin (Chinese Oranges). I found many at the nearby vegetable market.


The orange will easly fit in one's palm, a little bigger than a Gooseberry!
Interested to know more about this, read

A comparison between the Chinese and regular Oranges, who said great things come in small size?

Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran talks about the fascinating functions of mirror neurons

VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization | Video on TED.com

Enjoy the video, have a great TED time!

Restaurants from different places

Ever checked how many restaurants in your city have a place's name attached to it? I tried to figure out in Chennai how many one can find. So this is Part 1

Big things first,

There is a China in Chennai, Mainland China


Kumarakom,a famous tourist spot in Kerala, but in Chennai if you want to try Kerala Sea food, visit this place.



U.S Pizza, am not sure its open


Kabul,TTK Road, interested in North West Frontier food?


Ente Keralam, my Kerala!@Poes Garden


Madurai Appu,for authentic Chettinad food


Then the New Yorker, near Gemini flyover

(To be continued...)

Lost in Chennai Science festival 2010


From Feb 3 to 7 at Science city,Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre, this year's theme is "Science in every day life".


Little bit confused in seeing this Alectrosaurus or Allosaurus, not sure of the family of Dinosaur, making bizarre screams thankfully not moving. Wonder the role of this giant lizard in Science in everyday life? but then found out, to amuse students!

Found an interesting stall

Ramanujan Museum & Math education centre showcasing Math learning kits


A tribute to Srinivasa ramanujan, man who knew infinity


Shapes with Triangles


Shapes with square, confusing?


Good outing for school children


but what about taking science beyond the schools and colleges?


Couple of Madras Red sheep



Ostrich desperately looking for more space


veterinary college stall, some pigs,rabbits and many more


One Prof instructing his students to go around,observe things and end of the day submit one page write up on the science fair

Daily dosage from the world of books

" Communism was a great system for making people equally poor. Capitalism made people unequally rich."

Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat

Image of the week

Amul Xerox

Business diversification at its best: From dairy products to Xerox! Utterly Butterly Xerox?

Extra Terrestrials landed in Chennai

75 minutes of Wow! : guaranteed! by Show space to mark

10th year in event management business, brought

8 International performers together for

1 of a kind show

Thats



The Extra Terrestrials!


The Venue: The Music Academy, Chennai


Thanks to Show Space, around 20 Bloggers were selected and given free tickets(including me)for the event.


Chennai Bloggers: Venkatesh, Benny, Ram,Prashanth and Shrinidhi,
Evidently happy about getting free tickets: minutes before the show


Great gesture by Show Space: around 350 children from Cancer Institute and Spastic society were invited for the show, here you see them eagerly waiting to get in!

Have a look here to know various bloggers' reaction


Mr. N.Ram,Editor-in-chief of The Hindu was the chief guest, inaugurated the show. He had a special message for the kids. Need to appreciate the best in the World beyond narrow nationalism.

So what to expect from ET?

1.Men in Gold: Hand balancing acrobatics by duo from Hungry: Sandor vlah and Gyula Takacs

2.King of German Wheel: Wolfgang Bientzle

3.One wheel wonder or Unique unicyclist from Sweden:Erik Ivarsson

4.Skating and mid air acrobatics by German skaters

5.Acrobatic Trio's hand balancing act

6.The illusionist Jerome Murat's Living Statue

7.Lord of the Ring or Houdini with Hoop from Russia: Anton Skopinov Houdini

8.Laserman: Theo Dari from France. World's first person to introduce Laser act and later Laser 3D act also

Watch a promo of the show here


And I heard a lot!