Pic Ctsy - Times of India.

I was in Mumbai when the festival aroma was out in the streets. Places were being reserved for huge Idols of Lord Shri Ganesha to be placed on the day of Vinakaya Chathurthi. People are getting ready for the Huge Idols, Fancy Idols and all possible celebrations to their favourite deity. They have been doing this for years.

Chennai ?
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Naidu Hall is a well known apparel brand in Chennai. Started in 1939 to sell brassiers, they expanded into all sort of women’s clothing and have added kids and men’s section too in their stores. They have a good brand recall, so one wouldn’t expect them to go for a brand make over.
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Sorry for being late with the answers for these questions.

There were not many who bothered to answer, probably leaving the comments open instead of asking the answers to be emailed would have got a better response. Now to the answers
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Here are some photos from the Chennai Metroblogging Flickr group. Enjoy!

— from Velachery Balu - (?)
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Madras is home. The city that sheltered me, shaped me, prepared me -and drew me back to it may years later. Where ever in the world I go, it’s Madras that I come home to. Oh yes, it is a city that has a lot of problems. Its also a city that has a lot to be said for its good points. As a community, we need to discuss these things openly, appreciating the good and preserving it, discussing the bad and cleaning it up. We should fiercely protect its rich mixture of cultures, languages, peoples and traditions. While embracing the benefits of science, technology and progress for a better future. I think that, we the citizens, should use the Madras Day Celebrations to come together to see how we can contribute to making the future of this great city brighter than it is today.
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This hotel is the lifeline to a lot of people who work late in the city. You could see the occasional film producers / assistant directors discussing scripts. You could see auto rickshaw drivers quietly talking to their parottas. You could see people like me digging into some fish fry. And more people having the trademark tea. But whatever it is Samco is a good 30+ years old. Or rather more. Specialises in non-vegetarian food. Good Food. Open till very late in the night and is one that attracts a wide wide spectrum of people. Located in the prime Alwarpet signal junction right next to Rajkamal Studios. Infact, it used to be on the plot of land where the Lifestyle / Home Centre is now. Their trademark in the afternoon’s is their Biriyanis. The Hyderabadi Biriyani, the Malabar Biriyani, the Chettinad Biriyani and the Kalyana Biriyani. Now, what is the Kalyana Biriyani? Apparently, all marriage chefs in the state of Tamilnadu used to dish out this version. Legend has it has it has everything of a Biriyani, but not actually one. A pseudo Biriyani. Which is quick and easy to make.
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After moving to this city at a very young age and making it my home for the next two decades, I have always admired how Madras has kept most of its traditions intact even with the impact of globalization. A month or so back, Geeta Padmanabhan of THE HINDU had asked me, Vatsan, Nancy Gandhi and her husband on what Chennai symbolizes to each of us and this is what I had written to her (which also got published in the newspaper) : “the vibrancy that harmoniously blends the old with the new. The city ends the day with the same humility with which it woke up. It doesn’t need to flash wealth, doesn’t need tags like “silicon valley” or “cyberabad” and doesn’t give up its tradition in spite of influences to make it “cosmopolitan”. In character, this is truly an “Indian” city.”
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I must have been 9 years old then, maybe 10. Growing up in Kanpur, deep inside the Hindi heartland, Madras was for me only a dot on the map — a remote place with which I had no connection whatsoever. No visits, no relatives living there, no dreams of going there after ‘growing up’. Yet, I was familiar with one neighbourhood of Madras: Vadapalani. And that was because I had written to Chandamama a couple of times — once to ask if they needed freelance artists, on another occasion to ask if they would take my stories. Once my name actually appeared, in the ‘Do You Know’ column — the first time I saw my name in print.

Thus began my affair with Madras. It is like falling in love with a voice — it could be the voice of a singer or an RJ or a mysterious woman on the phone. You love her voice so much that you like to meet her someday. But that ’someday’ never comes and years pass and you forget her. Then, one day, you are face to face with a mature beauty, and she turns out to be the owner of the voice you were once in love with! That’s how felt when I finally set foot on Madras at the age of 30.

Ever since I landed at Chennai Central five years ago, I have been trying to match the childhood images of the unseen Madras with that of the Chennai I am living in today. Maybe that’s what has made my stay worthwhile.

And then, last Saturday, I was face to face with the Madras of my childhood. I spent two hours at the office of Chandamama, chatting with the editor, Viswanatha Reddi, or Viswam. The office is no longer in Vadapalani, but in a two-storeyed house in Ekkatuthangal. Labour dispute and family dispute stalled Chandamama’s publication from May 1998 to December 1999, and forced it to move out of the premises in 2000.

Today, Chandamama sells two lakh copies (down from nine lakh during its peak in the 1980’s). There is a report that that Walt Disney will buy it out. Viswam dismisses the report as speculation, but he is open to strategic partnership with Walt Disney, wherein the American company can promote Chandamama in return for using its archives.

Viswam, who is the son of filmmaker B. Nagi Reddi, came across to me as a very nice man — very gentle and modest in the old-fashioned way. He has been the editor since 1975. The feeling I got after the meeting is that he does not like the idea at all of selling out to Walt Disney, but some other board members seem to be in favour of such a deal. So he might be faced with difficult choices once again. But the good news is that Chandamama will soon turn sixty — it is only a month older than Independent India. One hopes the occasion is used to strengthen the magazine that has served young readers for three generations.

At 35, I am not sure which generation of the readers I belong to — should it be second or third? But one thing I know for certain is that Chandamama was a pillar of my childhood. And looking back, I can add that Chandamama is also a pillar of Chennai — the city whose birthday we are celebrating today.

Photo shamelessly lifted from here.

The active jabberwocks that most of the Metblogs authors are, came up with an idea, that of listing down five things they love and hate about their Madras. (OK, Chennai, if you insist) What is it that you, dear reader, love and hate about Chennai?
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Today is Chennai Day. No. No. Madras Day. Yes, the word Madras has left has an indellible mark in this great city that most of us still love to call it Madras. Forget us. There are a host of institutions in the city which refuse to change. The Madras Christian College is still very much the same. The Madras Medical College for a brief while changed its name to Chennai Medical College (CMC) only to revert back to the original as CMC was confused with the Vellore one. The prestigious IIT is still called IIT Madras. Forget these even, even the juduciary stills calls itself the Madras High Court. So, then why Chennai. Can’t we go back to the glorious old Madras please and no better occasion to do this name change than the city’s birthday. But whatever, Madras or Chennai there is no place in this world like this and like I always say ‘Sorgame enralum athu namma oora ppola varuma’.