As we came out of the Beach Railway Station, we had two options; one to walk along the Burma Bazaar or cross the Road and walk along many landmarks on the North Beach Road. We chose the second option , used the subway and surfaced in front of the Original Skyscraper of Chennai - TIAM House - Murugappa Group Headquarters, presently known as Jesus Calls Towers.
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Two hundred and five days ago I put my first words down on the Metblog. 94 posts later, I’ve decided to call it a day. To those of you who have enjoyed what I wrote, and applauded, thank you. To those who didn’t, you have reason to celebrate.
Personally I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences of Chennai with readers. It’s just over a year since I moved to this city, and my newcomer’s perspective always gave me enough to react to and write about.
So cheers then, and may the good times roll.
If you have been a regular Metblog reader, you will notice that along with the slight dip in the number and quality of posts, there has been an alarming and utterly deplorable increase in the number of abusive comments on the site.
We can do something about the quality of posts. They do occasionally fall. Not all posts, as you would understand, are great. Some are good, some only so-so. You may have even felt that some are down right bad.
We are constantly at work on improving the quality. That is something we can do, and if you ask me, often do effectively. If you can think of any ways to improve this blog, please make your suggestions. You can always use the story suggestions tool or the comments section for this.
Here at Metblogs, we have a no comments deletion policy. Since we have some respect for the Internet, we don’t want to delete anything from it. As far as I know (and I have been around since the beginning), nothing ever has been deleted from this blog.
If you are an abusive commentator, this policy should, no doubt, excite you. Seeing all the abuses you make against the author of the post, your fellow commentator, and ultimately yourself, appear on this blog must surely be a gratifying experience.
The no deletion policy will remain in place. Comments will not be deleted, modified or monitored in any fashion. It is the hardest to show restrain while enjoying absolute freedom. We would like the comments section to be an extension of what the authors says in the post. Please do consider helping us keep the comments section a place where fruitful debate occurs.
The $20 project. We have to call it the Rs 800 project. Some of the Metbloggers, starting with me, will tell you how we spend that amount.
What’s the fun in that you may ask, until u read this that is.
This is part of the efforts of authors from different parts of the world describing, often in lengthy detail, how they spend the money. There are more details here.
RobNoxious -if the name didn’t tell you, he is from LA - wrote about how he busted 20 dollars at Disneyland.
The call for The Chennai Photowalk by Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan materialised on Sunday (11/11/2007) with Anand,Geeta Padmanabhan,Srivatsan Murali , Sharanya, Navneeth,Mihir and me assembling near Kapaleeswarar Temple around 9. Two others joined us at Parry’s Corner later.
Have you heard that Hemingway and J.K. Rowling - before she became richer than the Queen - work a lot out of cafes? If you have ever heard such stories, believe them to be true, and possess some love for the world of words, then you want to ape them big authors. So last night, armed with a stack of printouts from various websites, I landed up at Resident Inn Chennai hoping to have a drink of that acrid drink they call coffee. Since I can’t write anything except blogs, I had, of course, decided to do the other thing that people with a love for words do: Read, as I sip my coffee.
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It’s perhaps unfortunate that two of my consecutive posts deal with autorickshaws and their drivers, and well, Outlook. But here goes anyway.
We, here at Chennai Metblogs, have obsessively discussed how auto drivers rob passengers. Friend Sriram Srinivasan of Outlook Business discusses in a recent blog post how market design can be used to decide auto fares.
We are all familiar with the answer Sriram doesn’t come up with in the end, but the blog is definitely worth a dekko.
In here is the unusual tale of an autorickshaw driver Muthu who donates 300 units of blood every four months. Don’t miss this.
A truck is their stage and the passerby on the noon hour their audience. Never mind that horns and all other daytime noises nearly drown thier audio… you can still hear these men and women sing poplar film numbers, makeing heads turn and putting a smile on people’s faces as they rush by.
The mobile orchestra of the visually challenged can be spotted in Luz, Mahalingapuram and elsewhere on any given day, come rain or shine. Performing with a PA system whioch is not too loud..The singers perch on a stool and give a mix of both old and new numbers.On occasions people stop by to request a song or two, and the minstrels are always obliging. Contributions are voluntary. As a shop keeper I spoke to in the vicinity said, “The singers put all of us in a good mood, and give us a break from momentary tensions.”
Chennai on a song. :-)
PS: Sorry about the poor qulaity of the picture taken in Luz.. my celcam acted up…
Aspirational has now sported a new look. Literally. A number of house maids, in middle class areas are walking into trendy beauty parlours for shaping their eyebrows and painting their nails….
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