How else does one explain the reversal from the new traffic arrangement to the old one along C P Ramaswamy Road and T T K road? If nair chaaya shop talk is to be believed (and it seldom is wrong) it mentions that the entire new arrangement was because Stalin found the traffic on TTK road a hassle, he wished to have free flowing traffic on TTK road, and the system, the nair chaaya shop informs me was promptly changed.

Viola, a month of chaos and confusion was there. The residents in the area of course hated the arrangement for it made their life terrible. And so a month later the system went back to the old one. The police of course today insist the change was because they found it hard to maintain traffic with the new system.
The nair chaaya shop goes onto add that Papa had to prevail over heir apparent that with elections coming up soon, pissing off the electorate is not a good idea, considering their dismal performance in their peetai of Chennai in the 2006 state elections. But the police even today according to the nair chaaya shop insist that they changed the system because it was too hard to maintain traffic (considering they had less to do under the new system with fewer junctions this excuse seems a farce).

Apart from this, the biggest change would have to be the crowds. Regular walkers inform me that on weekends, the average crowd is 30-40 people. That’s a phenomenal number compared to the earlier crowds, which averaged around 15 people. There of course were the days when 40 people turned up, but that was a rarity rather than being the norm.  The larger crowd obviously meant that it has become a joy walk, actually it always is that for everyone except the scouts who go ahead looking for tracks, or those who have to carry the turtle nests back incase any are found.

The stretch now is more lit up, it’s brighter than it earlier was. Over the years the area somehow has lost its charm. During my first walks in the late 1990s, beyond Thiruvanmayur was the brigest stretch, Valmiki Nagar had a few lights, otherwise there was hardly any noticeable lighting in the area.

The distressing fact about this season is the number of nests found. With the season almost over, only 60 odd nests have been found, it’s a marked drop from past seasons when twice that number of nests would be found. It’s partly due to development of t he coastal front which has lead to the few turtles nesting, while trawling also has contributed to a significant number of turtles being caught in them.

In all, very soon, in a decade or so, they just might not be enough turtles nesting on the Madras coastline to make it worthwhile for people to walk.

This brilliant system works fine for everyone concerned, MK and PC, but not so for Chennai. MK can claim that he has coerced, armtwisted, bullied PC into allocating money for the plant, while PC can gloat over his magnanimity in allocating money. Since only allocations matter both benefit from electoral gains, but the plant does not progress. And of course the voters in Chennai are utter fools to be swayed by the spin machines of these two jokers and vote based on it. Yes, this clearly shows its an election budget.

This is not the case with this restaurant alone. There are quite a few places which are like this. There is simply nothing which creates a longing to visit the place again. Rainforest in Adyar, Eden in Besant Nagar, New Yorker in Nungabakkam, Copper Chimney and French Loaf to name a few. This list would include most restaurants in the city.

With the concept of dining gaining prominence, the emphasis on food is being lost I feel. The food should create a longing in me, that sadly is becoming hard to find along with fine dining. The longing is there in Mathsya for instance, otherwise it’s the domain of roadside eateries like idiyappan in Pichupillai street and Brilliant Masala Dosai. This longing is also there in bare bones restaurants like National Lodge or Maris. For now its roadside zindabad.

The deeper meaning is beneath the comedy, it’s what underscores the relationship between the three principle characters. The play, after I understood that it’s about homosexuality seems a masterpiece. I was just too darn bloody dense to understand the deeper meaning in the play. Ivan, Mark and Sarge subconsciously attracted and in love with each other, especially Mark with the other two. Ivan’s impending marriage first jolts Mark, his friend, his lover has just walked away, and his world has changed over night. Now adding to this is Sarge blowing an obnoxious amount on the painting, it’s almost like Sarge has changed overnight. Mark is now emotionally disturbed by these events, his worlds changed; his gay friends have decided to walk down the path of heterosexuality. This leaves Mark alone and disturbed. And this explains Marks strong objections to Sarge spending money on the painting, for ideally he shouldn’t be bothered about it. And the climax reiterates this point too, when Sarge is confronted by Mark and told its either him or the painting, Sarge unable to let go of his sexual desires towards Mark, decides to choose Mark over the painting.

Without my interpretation of the subtext in the play, the play is a plain bore. It drags, and it really is not funny. It’s actually quite terrible, adding to this is Evams style of set changes when they have someone on stage doing something totally unconnected to the play. When its someone doing tap dance its fine, but a dude pretending to conduct an opera really is the pits. It would be better if the backstage staff were just whipped to change sets faster than put the audience through this torture. The play in one word was terrible, but not terrible enough for it to be enjoyable. Really terrible, corny plays or movies like T Rajendar’s are actually enjoyable. This was not that bad, but it was still terrible and leaves a bad taste. The problem with the play, is quite simple that it takes it self too seriously and tries to hard.

PS: Now I’m off to Ramdoss house to protest over his inaction regarding the play. Blasphemous to have Tamilians being shown plays dealing with homosexuality. It is against our culture, we tamilians don’t have sex only, we see no sex, hear no sex and indulge in no sex.

The play was in the museum theatre, Egmore, which has lovely acoustics and not to mention the charming Victorian architecture. The play was a mix of two stories by Basheer, one is Love Letters, and the other story’s name, I sadly do not remember.

The sets were neatly done, the entire play occurs in two locations, one is a bachelor pad and the second a tea shop. Both these unrelated locations were integrated into one set, and devoid of the need for set changes.

In any adaptation the script plays a vital role, if the script fails to capture the essence of the story, the play usually falls apart. In this adaptation, the script retains the indianness of the play and also the humor present in the story. The blending of both the stories has been done well, the audience is fooled into believing that they are actually one story rather than two.

Since both the stories are love stories, I expected soppy, and emotional scenes. But to my surprise, the play was hilarious. There isn’t much to call as the story. Its essentially another of those breezy romantic plays, but just that it has an Indian background, with the average middle class clerk, the educated middle class mallu girl, tea shop owner, and a petty thief as the principle characters. With a card shuffler as the quasi-antagonist, and the interaction between these characters is a laugh riot.

The play is a value for money entertainer. Walk in, time flies by and walk out. This weekend, the same group is staging an ambitious play, which blends 8 different stories by Basheer, and after sitting through this one, I am definitely planning to watch that one too!!!

This collective though seems to have made considerable progress towards organizing this event. They have come out with the schedule. This collective seems very unlike the other collective started in Chennai.

Download Schedule

Being a vegetarian, the numerous biryani shops are out of bounds for me. The area, especially Thiruvathiyur high road is filled with numerous restaurants which claim to serve “High-Class Non Vegetarian” or else Biryani. In other parts of the city, there are a few shops which specialise in biryani, but here almost all shops specialise in non vegetarian food.

Most of these are out of bounds for me, I am forced to visit the lone vegetarian restaurant. Even the vegetarian restaurants there have an interesting concept. They don’t serve the ubiquitous meals. They serve what is called ‘Mini-Meals’, which consists of various mixed rices, like kothamalli rice, tomato rice, sambhar rice, curd rice, along with a vegetable, kurma and parotta.

This is strange, because even in small town Tamil Nadu meals are served almost everywhere, but not here.

Some time back, my friend came to Chennai from Bangalore on his bullet. The bike being registered in Bangalore had a Karnataka registration.

While driving round the city, mid afternoon, a cop catches him.

Cop: Vandi Niruthu, KA registration, NOC kattu

Friend: NOC illai, naan iniku morning dhaan vandhan

Cop: Compulsory-a NOC podanum

Friend: Rendu Naaluku ellam poda mudiyathu. Amma appa pakka vara koodathu nu sollerangala? Avanga deivam madri, avanga pakka varathuku NOC podanum na varathu kastam. Adhuku melai, neenga ellam vandi pudikerangala? Madras-Bangalore highway la daily evloav vandi AP, KA registration oda varuthu? Avan ellam NOC podarana?

Cop: Seri Seri, Annan rumba nerama veiyal la nikkaren, Thambi edhavathu seingittu po.

(My friend gave him 10 rupees and went away)

Another friend had an even more interesting experience at 7 am in the morning.

Its 6.45 am, and my friend jumps the Kaliappa Hospital Signal on Ra Puram First Main road. Its early in the morning and is hardly any traffic. Jumping signals is the usual practice in Chennai, its done after 9.45 pm in the evening and till traffic density increases in the evenings.

As luck would have it, there is a constable on duty, who catches my friend.

Cop: Red la edhuku vandhai? Compulsory fine kattanum

Friend: Saar, kalan karthalai saar, traffic illai saar, adhunala dhaan

Cop: Seri paper ellam irukka?

Friend: Irukku saar,

Cop: Seri pocket la evloav irukku?

Friend: Saar avasaram saar, purse illai, kasu illai.

Cop: Seri, naan verum vairu oda nikkeran, andha tea kadai la poi, oru tea rendu vadai vangi kuduthutu po.

My friend being intelligent, forced the tea stall guy into giving a tea and two vadais for free.

NOTE: In both cases, the Cops are constables therefore they have a reluctance to note the number down and then issue notices, since they wont get any money.

“Consider this case. A popular actor/chief minister dies. His wife and concubine contest his legacy and fight the election. The people vote his concubine as his heir. By what yardstick do you call this cultural conservatism?” [Link]

Among the usual retorts, I especially like this one.