Boo!

I thought this would be a good week, but things don't turn out as expected. My friend from Chandigarh, on a vacation and staying with me, wanted to go see a movie, so we went to see The Grudge at Gem, in Bandra. The tickets were sold out in 10 minutes for the afternoon show. Since we had to while away our time till the next show, we went to 'The Great Punjab'. The food was good, but very costly. A litre of water (MRP Rs. 10) cost Rs. 40. In comparison, a litre of petrol costs Rs. 42 ONLY! The service was not bad at all, compared to how people who appear non-rich were treated at such pricey places. We found out why the tickets were sold out for an old movie when we went inside - the 'theatre' was so small, my house was bigger than that! It had only 45 seats, in 6 rows!! We were the only 'older' guys there among a bunch of college kids. With 1/2 the population female, I expected a lot of screams during the frightening scenes. To my disappointment, they were all laughing. Have people become so desensitised to humans suffering at the hands of ghosts?

Dandiya

The office had a party today - for a Gujarati festival called Dandiya. I don't what it stands for, but people dance around in a circle, clapping hands and/or hitting sticks. They made me dance in that circle! Apart from the normal 'wheatish' faces, there was a very pink face in the crowd. It was the face of a French guy. It is not everyday we see French people working in India!. Tomorrow is a holiday for Dusherah - a Bengali festival. Kali is supposed to be the patron goddess for Bengalis (and Mysoreans). What a day it must've been for him - a party on the first day, and a holiday the next!

Kashmir Earthquake

Very bad week, that was! First, the cable guy finds out the cable connection was illegal and takes it away. The share markets plunge and I might have lost a bundle, the new electricity meter increases my 'consumption' by 80%, and the trekking trip that was supposed to be on Sunday gets cancelled!

I was planning to go to Mahuli with a friend - he gets down with a bad stomach and I had to cancel it. My friend from Chandigarh drops in early Sunday morning. He misses the earthquake as he was on the train already and had crossed into Madhya Pradesh. Late in the evening, we went to Lokhandwala Garden for the Durga Puja festival. Some Bengali restaurants had turned that festival into an impromptu Bengali food festival with pricey food. Atleast I had some decent fish yesterday. I got a free cap, 'won' a free audio cassette, and got free internet coupons! That was the only consolation after a bad week.

Funny, how some disaster brings out the truth in politics. Before the earthquake, Pakistanis were saying Kashmir (Pakistan occupied) was a sovereign state and Jammu & Kashmir (Indian state) was 'Indian-occupied-territory', and the Indian government and media were telling it was Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. After the earthquake, we get reports of _Pakistani army bunkers_ caving in and killing _Pakistani soldiers_, media reports of the epicentre being in "Muzaffarbad, Pakistan". No reports of the "Kashmiri Prime Minister", only _Pakistani PM_ visiting the 'affected areas' and _Pakistani President_ appealing to 'friends' for support. He doesn't want to ask India for help because of his ego! Indian TV stations first report of Earthquake in North India (with tremors felt in Pakistan also), BBC reports from Delhi about earthquake near Islamabad (though Muzaffarbad is closer to India than Islamabad), CNN shows footage of an Indian TV (which shows footage of a Pakistani TV). I wonder how long something can be called a 'breaking news'; CNN was showing the morning earthquake as breaking news at midnight.

New blog

I spent five full hours designing a new blog, and one whole day convincing my boss to use an actual blogging software for a blog rather than maintain a blog manually. Fortunately, he understood and agreed to it. The web designer under me had a lot of innovative ideas for the blog, though - like comments, dropdown menus for navigation, a calendar to show when things were posted, etc.

Help! Help! We are being repressed!

Due to some recent incidents, the name of my beloved city has been sullied. Now, the state called Tamil Nadu is up for renaming again - to Taliban Nadu. Please keep in mind before casting a stone on me, the people who bring up these issues are not natives of Madras, they are immigrants who want to impose their will on the majority. None of the politicians, 'moral guardians', the goons protesting against 'defamation of culture', nor the jackbooted thugs in uniform, are from this great city. Nor are the 'movie stars' who preach and live a flamboyant life on screen, but want a 'conservative life' at home. The 'women' who recently 'protested' don't give a rat's arse about 'Tamil culture' - and they definitely don't speak for the 'women of Tamil Nadu'. An encounter with these 'ladies' would rot the ears off a sailor!

Crackdown on dance shows in city hotel
Actress apologises for pre-marital sex remarks
Single and Homeless in Chennai
Moral policing has students up in arms
V did it first - Chennai the only city to ban Vagina Monologues
College wears dress code on its sleeve
How dare you kiss in Chennai?
Beware of moral cops