A day in country's one of oldest prison!!

Its a thrilling experience to visit a prison (without committing any crime I mean), that too if the Prison is some 170 years old!!!It started as a transit camp for prisoners being taken to other major prisons, especially the Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar. Closed in 2007, Govt is going to demolish this prison and now its open to public.

Approach road to the prison, feel is like a tourist place with lots of people of all age groups, vendors



The Gallows, last hanging happened in 1975





Entrance,Central Prison, Madras, 1837




Place where movies were shown


Valuable belongings of inmates were kept here




A cell where most notorious criminals used to stay!






Inside the cell


Another section of cells




cell



Prison complex is more than 14 acres!




Dormitories






Behind the bars!!!!











Place to learn












Meditation centre













Imposing wall























Prison art!

A different love story, again!!!

Marketing a film is no joke, when crores are at stake. Recent news of various marketing tactics used by Gajjini made much news. The promotion of a film starts right from the poster designing. The news is about Gautham menon’s latest ‘silambarasan’ starrer movie “Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa”, a different love story, again.


Now what’s really different about this movie is its poster. If you closely look at the posters, you will be reminded of various super hit films of yester years, all love stories! Look and feel, fonts used are very similar to the original movies.

The shots used are from

Geethanjali



Dil se (Uyire)


Minsarakanavu


Alaipayuthey


Kakka kakka





The posters really connect to the tagline “a different love story, again” as the films featured were all super hit ‘love story’ films. It’s a unique strategy to promote the film for sure. We need to wait and watch to know how different is this film from others but the posters are really refreshing. Kudos to Gautham Menon and crew.

Chachu's Bike



For the past three days there is a slight change in my routine. I need to drop my brother's son, samyu in school. Now this duty is for just three days but its worth putting down the events.



Day 1



Samyu was ready by the time I reached his home. He informed that Papa has gone to office. Probably he was reasserting me why I was there and what I was supposed to do.

He found my Bike comfortable right from the beginning but worse was yet to come.



Samyu's road map to School is almost fixed and I made the utmost sin of deviating that route. He was quick to react and said Chachu (That's what he calls me) was completely wrong. I somehow managed the show by telling him that this route was far better, I doubt that was a convincing answer. On the way he told me where his mother used to have Pizza. Throughout the journey he was talking and I was nodding. First day duty was over. Later he complained to his mother that Chachu is not listening to him!



Day 2



Exactly when we reached the same signal where I had took a turn the other day; Samyu protested, this time more furiously than last time. I had to lie to him that I don't know the route and some how convinced him. Probably he was so sure of my ignorance



Day 3



Last day of my special duty. Samyu told me that his Papa is coming in the afternoon to pick him from school , again a reminder that my duty was over. Now the conversation was on throughout the trip. Before reaching the school samyu certified that my bike was good (after much public outcry I had give my vehicle for servicing) but am sure unlike his papa, who is a mechanical engineer, he don't know anything about bikes.



Anyway those three days were fun. Sometimes its good to disturb your routine

Change is good!!!

Taxis in London are a treat to watch!

One more new year round the corner and its celebration time. In my office we were asked to make our own masks and come. Now see some of them. What makes this celebration unique is all this is happening amidst uncertainty about job and business. More than half of people got fired. Still everybody is optimistic (not of getting fired) about future. Our office is ready to welcome 2009!



He tried Kathakali for sure!


That's one Tribal chief's mask!


Romeo or Remo?


Glad to see atleast one Gladiator


That's beauty queen (with mask)

The Great Indian Spelling Bee!
Saw this board opposite to Ascendas IT Park. The headline says ‘Indian Soups’ but if you see the lady, you will hardly believe that. Probably they want to say Indian soups served by a Chinese or Japanese? Now have a look at the spelling of various soups; be careful, you might lose your appetite!

How IT works

Nov30, Sunday night my wife, who is working in an IT company gets a message that the office will remain closed in the coming days. Thanks to Cyclone Nisha ( I am wondering on what basis they name these cyclones). The servers are not working, A/C also out of action. Normally when i am informed like this, I am thrilled but she is tensed. Monday, Dec 1 is the deadline for deliverables. Suddenly the atmosphere changed. She frantically started sending mails to the client, talking them over phone. This continues for a couple of hours.

Dec 1

Afternoon: she decides to go to Office and get the work in a pendrive so that if the client ask her to send the details, she can send
Eve: By now she is restless, making calls to Mumbai, London and some local calls (am seriously worried about our telephone bills) now I am also restless

7:30 p.m: She finds out that she can work from home on the remote desktop of Mumbai office
8:00 p.m she sets up the connection and ask two of her teammates to come home and work
8:25 p.m Two people arrive and start working. I am reminded of my BPO night shift days
9:00p.m Call from Mumbai, 4-5 people should fly to Mumbai and work from there for atleast 2-3 days
She starts calling her teammates, finds it difficult to convince them to fly to Mumbai (Quite understandable after terrorist attack). After much effort 3 brave hearts are ready. I am clueless!
9:50 p.m E- tickets mailed, two guys are working in full swing.

Dec 2
6:00 a.m: They are still working. I am headed to my office to take printouts of e-tickets. Never in my life I was so early to my office
9:30 a.m I drop her at Airport!
So I tell her next time if some one ask you where u working, tell them I work in Ascendas IT park..errrrr...Home....errrr ....Mumbai Office... just tell 'I am working'

I have seen water tanks in different sizes and shapes. But one in a Lotus shape is truely unique. This water tank is at Jagannath temple (like one in Puri) in Chennai.

News in the daily caught my attention, correspondence course on Gandhi! I decided to give it a try. It is always good to be a student of something. So I called up the Gandhi study centre, the organisation conducting the course and got the details. The course is for three months, course fee is Rs 150. Now the highlight, you will get the question paper at home and can answer sitting at home. There will be one full day contact class.




Name of the course is “Let us know Gandhi” a must need for this age.
Course material contains three books.








Exam is on Jan. It’s student days ahead, also an opportunity to know more about a great soul.

Imagine this; you go for shopping in Chennai's top most Alayam of Saris. You select saris and come to billing counter; you pay the bill and get the saris, now the surprising part. You get something free with Sari, can you guess what? I bet you can't
A Tulsi plant free for purchasing Saris (I am not sure about other dress materials). This is what exactly happened to my wife and we have our first indoor plant,a Tulsi plant!

It’s good to hear live Carnatic music nah? So even if you can't make it to Narada Gana sabha or Music Academy

Go to Sri Krishna sweets in Adyar

Every day evening you can hear live music here. It’s very interesting to see them discussing about various styles, ragas and all. So it’s double sweet at Sri Krishna

Office Records

This is not Guinness Book of records, not even Ripley's believe it or not series. These are office records (if you find a more sensible name, pls go ahead)

Marker Tower. 3 markers and a Glass!



Now 3 markers, a mobile and a Glass!Record holder Deva along with the record



Anybody there to beat this?

I never dreamt of a career in modeling but being in an advertising agency, I had lots of opportunities where I modeled as reference. These ads were also started like that. So even though it’s highly unlikely to recognise me, I agreed for the shoot. Never in my wildest dreams I (and nobody in the agency) thought that client will approve the concept and models. Believe me friends, the person who is seated in these ads is me. The ladies are my colleagues. This is not a dream debut I know but the feeling is great.






These ads were published in Kumudham,a Tamil weekly.

In this age of specialty and super specialty hospitals, this clinic is unique. I saw this dental clinic on the road side at Hyderabad. Do not miss the patient.

I'm lovin'it!!!

McDonald's, World's largest fast food chain opened its first outlet in Chennai on April 2nd. I was pestering my wife about this for past 2-3 weeks. I have read enough and written also (When I was in ICFAI) about 'Golden Arches' but never visited a McDonald's. So now the time has come for that. The new McDonald's is at Ascendas, an IT park.

So on April 5, I made it to McDonald's. It was not a-dream-come-true type of visit. The place was crowded, atleast 150 people in front of the counter!!!



At last after 30 mins, I got my Mc Aloo Tikki!!! Am not sure was it worth all this wait and struggle, still I'm lovin'it!!!

Death of a fish!
We have a beautiful fish tank (and fishes also) in our Advertising agency. We feed them, go near and observe them.I have seen some people even talk to them if not fight with them. We used to even compare them with ourselves, relate each fish with staffs. It’s a happy fish tank and we too. All this changed last Monday. Sathya, one of the staffs first noticed it. One fish was dead and floating. An air of sadness filled the agency.

We decided to do last rites for the deceased fish. Normally when a fish dies most of us just throws it somewhere. We did not want to do that way. Some one prepared ‘padai’ (made of bamboo where the body is kept) for fish.

One printed a “Kanniranjali”, a condolence note for the parted soul.

At 11:00 a.m the final procession started. With no joy in our hearts we all watched the last moments of fish. Let its soul rest in peace.

One evening with a living legend!

Anandettan came and told me that two tickets are available for the first test match between India and South Africa at Chennai. He said he is going on Friday 28th of March. That day Sehwag made history. Now the only thing that motivated me to go for the match was Sachin Tendulkar! I wanted to see him. So next day I decided to go. Around 2:30 I reached stadium. I ate one piece of Watermelon and two pears. I checked with a person about the score, he said India was all out! Ha great news now I can see all the players, especially Sachin. I entered the stadium with prayers in my lips to have a Darshan of God of 22 yards. I went inside and sat.



Sreeshanth started to bowl; Sachin was standing in first slip position. I could see him, but not that clear. Several overs passed but I was not happy. I wanted to see Sachin even closer. Match was not great, Indian took only 1 wicket and South Africa was not at all in a hurry. Then came the last over of the match! I came to know about this after the match. Again Sreesanth to bowl, all of
a sudden it happened. Sachin came running to long on and stood there.



Our section of gallery was in a state of absolute chaos. I saw two young guys writing something in a drawing sheet and running towards the fence and shouting Sachin, Sachin... Sachin Tendulkar was standing some 15 ft away from me. It was dream come true. People were screaming, shouting and making all types of noises to get Sachin’s attention. At last Sachin turned around and waved his hand.



Now people went crazy. Match was over and as he slowly walked towards Pavilion, I stood and had a last glimpse of Master blaster.

How to become founder member of a 180-year-old Newspaper?

Its great to be a founder member of World’s largest English news daily(as per ABC), even though its for a new edition. The other day I received a founder member certificate from Times of India. TOI is starting its Chennai edition on April 14 and I had subscribed to TOI for six months.



I know for sure that I am not one among the founders of TOI, but when I got this certificate, they bought me for sure. Before receiving the paper itself I feel a sense of ownership. Now am eagerly waiting for my copy.

When it rains!!!!!
Last visit to my native place, Cherthala, difficulty in finding the place? Ok its in Alapuzha Dist, now issues with pronunciation? Here is an easy one, a place in Kerala (hope you could make it at last) was a wet wet one. It was rain and more rain.

And when it rains in Kerala, it pours!!!

Have a look!

December 25 will always be remembered for two reasons: No prize for guessing the first one and second, it was on this day in the year 2007 Second (First in Kerala) official orkut Kshatriyam G2G happened at Thripunithura. Am I getting bit formal? Ok

This time everything related to G2G was special including my travel to Kerala from Chennai. Myself and my wife will go down in history as “first couple(most likely) to travel nearly 20 hours to reach North Paravur (Ernakulam dist) from Chennai. Don’t ask me how we accomplished this unique distinction, we are still clueless.
Then came Dec 25,my Mom, my wife and myself reached punithura by around 11.am(function was about to start at 10.am mind you) and there were already some 20 odd people. Met Girishettan (and few others)for the first time, Rajeevettan for 3rd time and Mohanammavan (K. L Mohanavarma)I have stopped counting the number of meetings with ammavan long time back.

So by around 11:30 function got kicked off. As i promised earlier, this is not a formal/official report.



Everybody except one, gave a self introduction. Mohanammavan, as usual was unique in that. He asked everybody to read his books and get to know about him better. He had a huge bunch of books written by him and everyone picked what they liked.


Various thoughts came up in the meeting.Kshatriya kshema sabha (atleast in Tripunithura) welcomes youth’s participation and elderly people are always there to guide/help. Jyothish put forth an idea of identifying various projects for the benefit of Kshatriya community and organize funds from NRI Kshatriyas



Mohanammavan’s message was simple!!!!! Try to create a good network, a well-knit community. As the stress levels of everybody is skyrocketing, try to find some good friends whom we can share our concerns, ideas and thoughts. When we have a good e community we can accomplish what all we want to. He said he had full faith in youth and all were capable of great things and he wished his age could be reduced by some 60 years so that he could become one among the audience!



Lunch was superb and sumptuous



That was my version of second formal Kshatriyam G2G and am waiting for Third one!!!!!

My adventures with ICICI Bank

My debit card expired and as everybody does I booked a new one. New card duly arrived. I went to nearby Bank branch for activation of Card (I did not want to try my luck in help lines) but there I was connected to helpline and the person asked me some 20 odd questions, right from My name, mother’s maiden name, nominee’s name, neighbor’s name and what more. At last the most trickiest question. He wanted my cheque number and I did not have the cheque book. So he politely asked me to have a cheque leaf with me next time I call ICICI bank. I was heartbroken and with no other choice left the bank.

Next day I was all geared up and well equipped . I took my cheque book, new ATM card and reached bank. Again I was connected to helpline. This time to my surprise the person asked just 4 questions, no need of cheque numbers and whole list of names.

I remembered their tag line “Hum hai na”(We are here) what for? To confuse the customer? or harass them?

The Art of Begging!!

We Indians lack creativity, or at least not at par with other countries for sure. Indian advertising is ranked 21 in the world. This applicable to desi beggars also. Have a look at this person and the reason for why he wants money.





After an year also he is consistent




After all why he wants his wife to come back????