Selective Amnesia There was a point to this. But I forgot.

Walking Forth: The fortyfourth, fortyfifth, fortysixth and fortyseventh Chennai PhotoWalks.

Apologies for the atrocious pun in the title. Actually, I don’t apologise. You know why? Because it’s been 4 bloody awesome, fun, exciting years since we started the Chennai PhotoWalk and I cannot not be stupid and punny about it.
There are a few good things I’ve planned to mark the anniversary, but first.

Drum rolls please, for November Special Walks.

Walk #1: Sunday 6th November 2011, at 5:30 AM. From Southern Railway Headquarters (PH Road) to Madras High Court

Walk #2: Sunday 13th November 2011, at 4:30 PM (afternoon walk) Nungambakkam High Road and environs

Walk #3: Sunday 20th November 2011, at 6:30 AM. On First Line Beach, from Dare House to Clive Battery

Walk #4: Sunday 27th November 2011, at 8:30 AM. Along the Beach Tambaram Railway line, from Chetpet to Kodambakkam.

More details, historiography and pertinent information about each walk a bit closer to the dates, but for now, CELEBRATE. And keep yourself free. You could also head over to The Chennai PhotoWalk facebook page and become a fan.

Madras Week Special talks: Ancient Light – Madras, Photowalks, History and Archaeology

So, as announced earlier, I’m doing three special walks this August as part of the Madras Week Special celebrations.
What I am also doing is talking about, presenting on, and generally making noise about history, Madras, archaeology and Photowalks, at three different venues. I’m calling the talks Ancient Light. Ancient Light, for those who’ve followed my exploits in Bristol last year, was my MA Dissertation topic. It is derived from the words Archaeo(logy) and Photo(graphy).
I’ll be touching on quite a lot of issues as part of my talk, some of which might even be interesting and important. So please do come listen to me talk.

The dates, then.

Talk 1: Monday, August 22, 2011 18:00 hrs, at the Gallery Sri Parvati, Eldam’s Road, Alwarpet
Talk 2: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 16:00 hrs, at the Jaigopal Garodia School, Anna Nagar
Talk 3: Friday, August 27, 2011 18:15 hrs, at the Hotel Greenpark, Vadapalani

Come on over.

The leaping light, the twinkle in the eye

Remember this post? That, I thought, was a rather wimpy version of a bad-ass poem. Sung beautifully, I’ll give you. Jesudoss has that voice and that style. But a duet is not how I think Bharathiyar wrote it.
I came across this version, which I think is marginally better. Made an anthem out of it. Which’s a smart idea. But somehow I am not too convinced.

Yes. I am who you should please when it comes to Bharathiyar.

தாரணியில் வானுலகில் சார்ந்திருக்கு மின்பமெல்லாம்
ஓருருவ மாய்ச்சமைந்தாய்! உள்ளமுதமே! கண்ணம்மா!

Sweet elixir my precious, my iris
mine honey, you’re all that’s good
here on earth, there in the heavens

The Madras Week Special: 41 Chennai PhotoWalk details

Hello people, some more information on the Madras Week special walks this August. As mentioned earlier, I’ve got three walks in mind. They are on the 21st, 27th and 28th August, at Royapettah/Triplicane, Kilpauk/Chetpet & Mount Road respectively.

I am particularly happy with these routes, as they are places we (or atleast I) haven’t explored much of. Additionally, all my walks this month overlap with special Madras Week walks organised by others, which is a good thing in my mind. The Mount Road walk is an example: my walks ends about half hour before the other kicks off, and in roughly the same place. Which means, you can quite easily walk out of one and into the other. A great way to explore Madras.

Now, for the details.

Walk #1: Sunday, August 21, 2011. Royapettah Clock Tower to Chepauk Palace. Distance Approx 2.5 kms
We meet at the Royapettah Clock Tower at 6:45 AM.
Oh, what can I tell you? That Triplicane is as old as time, and that humans have lived here for as long as history, and that the story of Madras is the story of Triplicane. That Indo-Saracenic Architecture found its first expression here, that the beach and the river became Garden and Palace of the Nawab and later the government.
We’ll walk from the Clock tower, into Zam Bazaar, sampling the world-famous Lassi of the market, being refused an entry into Amir Mahal, following the Victoria Hostel road into the beautiful Chepauk Palace grounds.

Info/history for the other walks will follow soon. Stay tuned.

Susruta, Hippokrates, you’ve got a lot to answer for.

So, am at home, well and truly stuck indoors. I must have missed the memo that kindly informed me I would give over most my earnings and my family’s savings to the medical profession. In March, I began a much-delayed course of treatment for my arthritis, in April I had an enlarged salivary gland removed, in May/June I suffered from a persistent flu, as well as a case of the hiccups, just a day before the 40th Chennai PhotoWalk. The hiccup-from-hell lasted well through the evening and the night, causing doctor visits and “hospitalisation for observation”.

So anyway. This month, July-August, it’s a hernia that needed removal. So I am home. Recuperating, convalescing. Sitting on my ass. Which, believe it or not, is the perfect segue to the res-gestae.

I wonder why, in over 200 years of evolution, modern medicine still hasn’t managed to find an alternative to those really short, open-in-the-back hospital gowns? You know the ones which, no matter what the patient is in for, always has his/her butt hanging naked.
And will always ride up to one’s chest while sleeping.
On the other hand, those gowns do keep one, well, well-aired.

Renault Fluence

Oh, Law & Kenneth. What a wonderful, wonderful example you make. An example I particularly like to point at. And laugh derisively.
Such lazy, tepid, uninspired copywriting I haven’t come across. Fellini 1954. Post-Modern, 1978. Post-Modern.
Brilliant. Thank you!

What’s on my plate

At a Tamil wedding in Madras.

• Rumali Roti


• Paneer Butter Masala (salted heavily, enough to float the Dead Sea)


• Cutlets from Potato (fried so deep, they had to scuba dive to get it out. And a chisel to pierce the crust)


• Oothappam, smaller in size than the Vadais you get at Saravana Bhavan


• Insipid Coconut chutney, for said Oothappam


• Something Magenta and sweet


• Three florets of a Cauliflower Manchuri type thing


• Potato curry, not too badly done.


• Jamun


• Onion, Cucumber and Carrot raitha


• Soggy Pappadam (not AppaLam)


• Something that passed for a mixture


• Premixed Sambar rice, half a decent serving


• Premixed Curd rice, ditto


• Cut Mango pickle

And then they say Madras is not a cosmopolitan city.