Miss my life- A contradiction to my last post

I miss my lazy mornings, the ones spent with my grandfather. Reading the newspaper together, fighting for the supplementary sheets, lying down on his lap and dreaming. Then comes the whack on my head, my mom chasing me to brush my teeth, and have a shower. From the verandah to the backyard, I continue my dreaming schedule. Staring at the crows, shooing them away, looking at the freshly bloomed flowers and vegetables of my mom’s garden, irritating my brother and running around my house escaping my mum’s hits, those were the best times of my life.

My life now seems so incomplete. I don’t have my grandparents, I don’t have a lazy morning, and neither do I get time to stare or fight or play with my folks back at home. I am stuck in-between the corporate crap-holes, who hardly have a life. A bunch of insensitive people work together, bitch about each other, and try to impose their stupid philosophy of having a no personal life on others. A set of losers of first grade, focused on earning and self spending and enjoying their family-less life. These people always leave me pondering over their personal life, which I totally do not care to know about.

When I crave to be with my family and spend time, what makes them workaholics? How much do they earn, can that salary pay a price for the lost relationships?  I still haven’t derived an answer and I am still brooding over it.

I give birth every month

10 months of struggle, pain, morning sickness, weight gain, nausea and a lot more a woman takes so many twinges to give birth to a new life. I go through all of the above said every month, I struggle to come up with the right concepts/ideas, take a lot of pain to make people understand what I really want to do, work like a crazy woman, I wake up early with a nauseating feeling and a severe hangover, I hog almost every piece of junk food gain weight and I finally look like a stranger to my mom and my husband.

When it is 5^th of every month, there is a broad smile on my face, I feel so relieved, my baby is finally out and my eyes are filled with happiness and joy. She looks so beautiful both externally as well as internally. She has got everything, the looks, the texture, the style, the content and everything. She is classy and sophisticated. I love the smell of her, fresh as a dew drop during the winter. All the happiness continues for two days, she is talked about everywhere and looked upon, her journey continues into the beautiful society which accepts her at large and welcomes her with a big heart, but my condition gets worsened , I have already conceived the next baby by then and my delivery is due in 28 days. The running, galloping, skipping and falling everything continues during the course of my pregnancy. All these only make me stronger day by day. At the end of the day when I see my baby out enjoying an elite status at the spa centers, beauty parlours, major Five Star, Four Star Hotels, Airports, Airlines, Esteemed Clubs, hospitals everywhere you go, you can see her and this visibility of her brings abundant ecstasy in my life . She makes me even proud when I see her inside the Sri Lankan airlines traveling far and wide to Europe, Middle East & Pan Asian Countries. You make my life meaningful my little baby, you mean a lot to me, I love you with all my heart. My baby doll “Food&Health”magazines.

Living Legend.. Kalaimamani Ranganayaki Jayaraman

My interview with Kalaimamani Ranganayaki Jayaraman Director Saraswathi Gana Nilayam Triplicane Chennai.

1. How would you associate the growth of SGN along with your growth...?

Started by my guru Smt.K.Lalitha in 1939, SGN has been my life and soul. My growth was marked by the growth of the instiitution. My teacher who also happens to be my aunt imbibed in me a sense of art, she made it a point that i not only excelled in dance but also made me learn Veena, Violin and Vocal music, she also trained me in Nattuvangam and inspired me to do Hari Katha. Therefore SGN and Lalitha sister have been the driving source for all my success and prosperity and i owe it all to them.

     2. As the First Student of SGN, you would have enjoyed a different phase , can u tell us about your learning experiences, arangetram and so on..

 Remembering those days make me feel rejuvenated, I started learning Bharathanatyam under my Athai[aunt] Smt. K.Lalitha at the age of 5 and staged my Arangetram when i was 11years old, Athai was an ardent fan of Rukmini Devi and was very specific that she must preside over my arangetram. Rukmini amma also readily accepted and graced the occasion, one of the best moments in my life was when Rukmini amma made me sit on her lap. We have come through a lot of hurdles and have also successfully inspired many dancers to take up dance as a serious profession.

     3.During the days of  solo kutcheris, how did Saraswathi Gana NIlayam, find its way of group choreographies and group arangetrams...

 “Dance should not be the privilege of only the affluent. It should reach all those who have a passion for it," I hit upon the idea of involving three or four dancers, to cut down the expenditure for the parents. Also the group concept beautifully lends itself to legends and mythological stories, more number of dancers, it becomes easy for the audience to relate to each character with absolute distinctions. I also hold a strong appeal to sabhas and dance schools that they should come forward to bring out the talent in economically backward people, who have the ability but do not have financial support. Lalitha Prabhavam, which was penned by my Guru was one of the master piece ballet which made heads turn towards our group productions, from then on we took up full fledged efforts to bring about dance ballets and group productions, which raised the standards of both the institute and the dancers, giving them special identities.

     4. SGN is known for its folk dances, can you tell us about that..

My guru is considered a pioneer in reviving and propogating our traditional art forms such as Kollattam, kummi, Pinnal Kollatam. During those days people would instantly associate our dance class with these art forms, Mr. K.Subrahmanyam , always made sure that we performed for all his programs. I specifically remember, Pinnal Kollattam was everybody's favourite, and the hall used be in thunderous applause when Pinnal kollatam is performed.

     5. A good teacher's treasure are her students can you tell us about your senior disciples who are into this field..

Yes , that is Absolutely true, my students are my gems, a teacher student relationship is always give and take... the students crave for the knowledge that the teacher holds and the teacher craves to find students with utmost  potential and expects their excellent performance. there is no Materialism involved, my students are always with me even today, though they are all well settled in their own ways, Binesh Mahadevan, my senior disciple who is the Director of Akshaya Arts at Koyambedu, is always a call away, he is more like a right hand to me, similarly Padmini Krishnamurthy who now resides at Muscat ,Padmalakshmee Suresh are all such wonderful students that I have got. Revathy, we call her Asha, she is a busy artist but when ever I need her, she reaches me. Most of my students are all well settled and it gives me immense happiness to see them all like this.

B.K.Puram BlockBusters

Dedicated to my Bestie and her sissie... the BLOCKBUSTERS OF B.K.PURAM, Yamini & Damini. I would have never come across this place if they did not shift back to their Native soil.
Lushy green fields, sugarcane, paddy, groundnuts was all that I could see. The first sight of this place left me awestruck, 84kms from Chennai, is this land of serenity and bliss 'Balakrishnapuram'. 

Walking through the fields, one could experience the smell of burnt sugarcane,wet soil and a weird fragrance, all of which smelled fresh and pleasing. One feels like Humpty-Dumpty , by the time he/she reaches Balakrishnapuram on a rickety bus to Tirutani to R.K.Pet after which you have undergo the most adventurous Share auto ride. Unlike Chennai, the Share autos are smaller in size yet try to fit in more number of people.

The village lies on the Andhra-Tamilnadu border and the people are in a confused state when it comes to speaking Tamil or Telugu, both the language sounded the same when they talk. In a land of Fake smiles and sarcastic looks, I found real happiness and love in their eyes, they welcome any stranger into their village with due respect and make them feel really comfortable, " 'Athithi devo bhava', we strongly believe in this phrase, and treat all the people equally without any discrimination, says Sunitha Sekar the village heads wife.

"Farming is our profession and we are ardent farmers by birth, Any child who is born here is very attached to this soil, wherever they go, however successful they get, this soil brings them back here", Raghava Raju.

Every story about a farming village usually turns out to be tragic, but B.K.Puram is different, the people make the village look really positive as they try to overcome all the hurdles all by themselves without expecting much some leader to come and reform the place. The Villagers make your eyes Pop-Out not just with their unity and prosperity but also with the luxurious cars that they own, it is a land of BMW's, Audi's and SUV's.Farming at its peak, even after domestic use and freebies , they are still left with surplus to trade and make abundant profits. The families here are simple and down-to-earth but are all billionaires. Earlier generation of Farmers, play with the soil and yield the benefit, whereas the current generation is at a much faster pace, they trade these excess produce to other states and make huge profits. Most of these people are settled in Bangalore as it helps them carrying out the business at a large scale, but they all make it a point to come back to their village with their extended family for every Sankranthi, when they have joyous celebration of the Harvest.

B.K.Puram also has significant roads. The village roads are concrete and was laid by the villagers themselves. Transportation is made easy as they have good roads i;e less damaged ones, connecting neighbouring villages and towns.

After all the positives aspects of B.K.Puram, here are a few things which tries hard to pull down its serenity. These people have to undergo a great deal of pressure in protecting their lands and their produce from natural disasters as well as man-made. The village is surrounded by small hills which have rich habitation of wild boars, goose, rabbits, foxes etc; these animals tend to come into the farming lands and eat up the crops, similarly people from the neighbouring villages also turn out to be a wild in their behaviour, these people burn up the farms at B.K.Puram, once they find that they are making a good margin.

When this is the state for crops, the condition of the lands there seem to be worse. Have you ever wondered why Indian cinemas always have a villain in it, no matter however positive the story-line is. This village to has one such person, 'The Tahsildhar', who occupies everybody's land and claims it to be his, making fake documents and agreements. He has tormented the villagers for several years taking away their properties, but off-recent his activities have subsided as the village head Mr.G.R.Sekar is back from Chennai. Sekar Raju's Father had owned almost 3/4th of the village, he was a generous man and did not believe in the Zameendari system of Land lordship and therefore donated pieces of lands to the villagers. He was their Hero and now Sekar Raju has taken up his dad's position, says the villagers unanimously.

the womenfolk of the village also have a remarkable complaint to put forth. These villagers are misguided and are made to waste their money and spoil their health by getting into Alcoholism. Almost 80% of the men drink and are now suffering from chronic liver diseases such as Jaundice and so on. The village not only has two outlets of Tasmac, but they also get supply of Arrack from villages nearby. "Alcoholism has destroyed so many families and I Am trying to bring back all the lost Gandhian values once again to the village", says Sekar Raju.

 Keeping all these issues aside, the village seems to be happy , just that the villagers have to take a step forward to make it a much more better place, which sets an example for all the other villages

Burmese Craze...

Parrys corner or Parrymunai is the commercial hub of Chennai, you can find all kinds of imports and exports be it petty shop to platforms or huge retailers to wholesalers. Every businessman there has great hopes of prosperity as the place has its own charm for being a business flourishing market.Chennai-600001 Parrys is not only No.1 on the basis of pin- code but also for the foreign goods and foreign foods available there, and one such special feature of Parrys is the Burmese food.
Burmese food,culture and commerce came to India during the second world war when people from Burma came into India as refugees. From  then on they developed both themselves as well the Business conditions in Chennai with the advent of Burma Bazzar. Burma Bazzar is famous for Foreign goods which are made available to the people at half the price, this strikes most of the Retailers and customers to make purchases there.

Atho, Baijo, Kousee, Moinga, Seijo are the favourite delicacies of the Burmese, which are made available to us at the Parrys Corner. The shops that sell these delicacies are widely found and accepted by the people of Chennai, even though they  do not have a Name board and people still manage to find the right shops which treat their taste buds right. These shops work for nearly 10 hours tirelessly from 12pm to 10:30pm. The main attraction of these shops are not just the delicious taste but the lights which give a special effect to both the food and the atmosphere. Widely known as better-mass light , it highlights the colours of the food which are displayed in orange white and green , almost representing the Indian Flag. There are over 8 shops which sell these Burmese food and each shop has its own special ingredient to spice it all up, one such dish is the plantain soup that is sold at a shop owned by Mr. Abdul Rahman, a Burmeese National, who has been carrying out this business for over 30 years at the Parrys Corner. This soup is prepared with Plantain and coconut, which is served with Atho, which makes it tastier. The food served here might not look that hygiene but it is matched with high nutritional values as they add up a variety of greens, cabbage, groundnuts,garlic oil which make up for its taste and nutrition, and is available at Rs.35, for which the soup is served for free. These shops have a huge crowd of regular customers and also attract a massive number of new ones as they maintain high level of goodwill among the customers. Working all through the week these men take rest and spend time with their family on Sundays, so if you want to taste Atho , make sure you don not drop in on a Sunday.

Govindaraju. On a Selling Spree

Among his vast collection of rare newspapers and old journals is a copy of the first issue of The Indian Express — of 1932 vintage. And that can also be bought from S A Govindaraju, who after spending a life time building a literary treasure trove with passion, is planning to hang up his boots. At the age of 77, the voracious collector no more looks out for books or other things to add to his collection but looks for worthy buyers.  In fact, the man has preserved his collection carefully for 45 years, is now choosy about buyers, who are expected to prove their credentials to him. “I don’t sell my books to those who don’t love them,” he says.

Having inherited the passion — and also half the collection, which now comprises around 2000 books, magazines, newspapers, print advertisements,  jewellery catalogues and other things —  from his father, who was a doctor by profession, Govindaraju carried on the tradition till very recently when he realised that he can no longer preserve the treasure trove for long. All his children live abroad and they may not be able to maintain the huge collection, he feels.

So the precious possession is kept at the garage of his house in Raja Annamalai Puram (No 45/50, Second Main Road), which is regularly browsed through by people keen on picking up a piece or the other.

IAS officers, professors, politicians, celebrities and book lovers are among the visitors to the garage-turned-library, notable among them being actress Gautami and cartoonist Keshav.

The collection has a wide range of articles from jewellery catalogues to literary works, novels, books on philosophy, politics, spirituality, old Punch magazines, Harpers monthly magazine (1879), Penquin and Pelican publications, early advertisements for Lux soap, Titan watches, old Tamil magazines like Anandha Vikatan, Kalki and also painting of artist Silpi.

An alumni of Madras School of Social Work, Govindaraju had worked for companies like the  defunt B&C Mills, TVS and MRF, besides practising as an independent labour law consultant. Then he taught at the University of Madras in the Department of Politics and Public Administration.

The incorrigible book lover, however, has one concern: ‘The book industry is dying.’ He also has a grievance: Book collectors like him are not allowed to sell old books at the annual book exhibition in Chennai.

(Govindaraju can  be contacted on 9941132756 or at renuka_govindaraju@yahoo.com)

VEPERY BUSINESS MAGNET

A pleasant afternoon indeed, I travelled to vepery from anna square in order to check out the place. I had already been there sometime back, there was one petite thing which induced me to go back to that place of all the other places in Chennai.

Vepery is a heavily crowded place, which is situated between the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and the Central Railway station. The population there is mostly of Jains and therefore it has a huge Jain temple in the beginning of the area. It is surrounded by beautiful historic buildings such as the Dina Malar office and the St. Andrews Church. The place is quite sophisticated with good schools and colleges and also other social amenities. There is also a school for special children in the church grounds and also a lot of community buildings to fulfill the needs of the poor.

My main reason behind my re-visit to that particular place was because of a smart business magnet who belonged to that area. He might not have the looks of an entrepreneur who earns nearly millions  a day, but he has immense amount of knowledge  to win over his customers. 6000 a day might not sound a massive amount for many, but earning 6000 out of a roadside chat shop is huge and incredible. I met this man last month when I had come for a field work, he quenched my thirst as well as contented my hunger with his mouth-watering Pani Puri. I can still feel the taste of it when I think about it. An obese 50 year old man named Raja owns a chat stall on the E.V.K.Sampath Salai which is adjacent to the Malai Malar office. I have no idea if he adds some drug to his puri’s  but anybody who had his pani puri’s would definitely want to have it once again, it’s that delicious. He started off with just a cycle and a pot which would have the masala pani but now he has his own scooter, an apartment and his son studies at Agarwal Vidyalaya. Time changed him from a roadside vendor to an astonishing brilliant business man.

When I asked him what his business strategies are, he answered me casually with his master piece grin on his face “ I treat my customers like my buddies and make them feel comfortable that is the main reason behind all these Honda’s and Audi’s being parked infront of this roadside stall, secondly my prices are cheap when compared to other chat shops , I sell 15 pani puri’s for 20rs, which you cannot find anywhere else with this quality, thirdly my stall is in the right location, Vepery is one of the place which has large population of the Marwadi’s and Gujarathi’s who love chats, I also see to it I avoid garlic and onions for them and that’s how I earned goodwill from them.” And when asked about the fourth reason, he tackled me off by telling that the fourth one was a mix of his secret recipe and his secret business strategy, which he wouldn’t let out.

Whatever it may be, his preparations cannot be compared to anything less than the blissful nectar from heaven. He also prepares various other dishes such as Chocolate and cheese sandwich, Hot Sour Chilli Toast Sandwich, Noodles Sandwich and a lot more adding on to the regular chat variety. The prices are very affordable and shocking, nothing is more than 28rs and one plate of any chat from there can be shared by two for sure. His target customers are mostly the students of Agarwal Vidyalaya and G.S.S.Jain college, along with them there are plenty of students from Doveton Corrie who throng to the place to eat his special addictive Pani Puri’s.

His hardwork, dedication and a sharp mind has got him all that he wanted in his life. He is now a happy man living with the love of his life and his adorable son who studies in the 7^th grade. His story sets an example to all of us, it might be an old saying but it still has it’s own significance in one’s life  “ hardwork repays”.  His stall is right opposite the Jain temple in vepery, all of you must really taste this kind of food atleast once in your life time.