Temple @ Iyengarkulam, originally uploaded by The Pseudonym.

Beautiful Temple. A Longtime Back. Sad No One is here and it seems to be abandoned. I could not see the insides. But I loved being there. The Breeze was great and there were these set of kids who were so happy that we were photographing them. I felt joy. Joy like never before. Looking back now, I don’t even know the name of the temple.

Life is so Lonely
’cause you were the only
one to share mine
all the time in days filed with misery

Please listen to me someone
someone please
Listen
I am here with my woes

Why am I so not in tune
why does the earth have a lune
But I actually have none to call my own

Please listen to me someone
someone please
Listen
I am here with my woes

All my friends have children
I am my own children
I am what I did not want,
I am in Want

Please listen to me someone
someone please
Listen
I am here with my woes

I was at the Chinmaya Yuva Kendra Culturals Ablaze 2008 the whole of Yesterday. So morning Narain and me(or is it I?) walk into the Chinmaya Heritage Center after a late night at the office the previous day and we started off by putting up Banners and setting up the www.findnearyou.com stall (failed miserably though)
it took Seshadri ( a friend at work ) to actually setup the stall. Where do I put up banners? This was running through my head for a while by then.

So while 2 Banners went to the stage flanks one went right inside the elevator. So when the elevator door opened up there we had a sign saying

“Stop Searching Start Finding” I was waiting for the elevator and two oldies joined my wait. So they were reading the back of my T-Shirt. which says www.findnearyou.com and then the elevator door opens and there they see the banner. They got a funny look on their face. and their eyes started to go between the banner and my Tshirt. So smart guy I am said “Yeah, it is Find Near You and I was the one who put it up there” , they said “Clever thinking” So I murmured my thanks and stepped out of the elevator.

We had all these contests and I found that boys and girls go crazy about

Freebies, A game where you have to rip the paper, crush it and then basket it with your left hand and of course brain teasers. I met some really sweet kids. I was shooting off like crazy about findnearyou and one kid I was talking to was like “I came here for Creative Writing and But I am being forced to perform Ship wreck and worse I have to play Salman Khan. Now why do kids have to play some dumb celebrity? I met some kids from St. Bedes and when I told them I was from Don Bosco, Egmore they got pretty excited and we shared some cultural stories. Previously I had watched them dance and trust me they were so different from all other schools. They were appreciated but did not win any prize. It is just like in Harry Potter when Dolores Umbridge says this is what school children should do more than this they should not. It kills the spirit inside the kid . They had made a lot of effort to do what they did. The judges should not say things like “You were very good, but this is a school culturals and we don’t entertain commercially good performances. ” Hey Teacher leave those kids alone… All in all you’re just another Brick in the wall” It is sad that talent is controlled and driven by people who are controlled and driven by some others.

Sad but True.

Last night after covering two music concerts for Rockand Raga , (one at the Unwind Center in Adyar and a Jazz concert at the Gandhi Nagar Club) on my way back Sathya and me decided to take the bus back home. So waited for a while to catch 29C in Adyar.(This is one of the oldest and probably the longest route in Chennai. Starts from Beasant Nagar and ends at Aynavaram.)

So in the meanwhile we entertained ourselves by stopping autorickshaws and asking them how much they’ll charge for a trip to Kilpauk. They quoted anywhere in the range of 180-200Rupees. And when I refused to go for the ride they wanted to take me for. They would ask me to quote my price. and I’d quote in the range of 50-70 Rupees. Yeah it is a game I often play with auto fellows and I love seeing that pissed off look on their face.

So finally the bus got there and I had to stop playing games with the Autorickshaw guys and got in with Sathyanarain( Yeah the same guy who has decided to moderate the comments on his blogpost) and while there were hardly any women and the entire bus was filled with men. Narain and I were totally tired and there was this lady occupying a seat. The seat next to her was empty and there were so many men standing. I asked Narain to occupy that seat and he was like “Don’t know how she will react?”

Yeah and I have seen women give all kinds of reaction. Most of them get aggressive and ask the men folk to move away from what is rightfully theirs. I have seen some of them shove school children out of the ladies seat. But let me tell you my story.

I was sitting in a bus in the last row because other places were filled with people. (Last row is for ladies in most buses in Chennai) I was the only one in the last row no one else. At one of the stops a lady climbs in and comes to where I am sitting.

Lady: Please get up I want to sit here.

Me : Well, the entire row is empty and you can sit anyplace.

Lady : No I wanna sit here.

Me Ok if you want to. ( So I move to another place in the same row)

Lady : No this is a Ladies only seat so please get up. Men should not sit here.

Me : Oh alright. Fair enough. Thanks for telling me. I am really dumb you know

(I was really angry by now. I still got up not wanting to fight with the lady and was moving away)

Lady (In a loud Voice) : Men are such Bastards.

Me turns around walks upto her gets really up and close and demanded an apology. While she refused to apologize, I gave her what she did not expect, a toffee. She was completely embarrassed and got down at the next bus stop. Infact everyone was shocked. They expected something serious to happen. But I just wanted the world to know that women can behave like that too. She took the heat, not me. I hope and wish and pray that such abusive women are shown the right path.

What would you have done in a situation like this men and women?Please leave your comments.

I don’t believe anyone. I don’t even believe my own shadow. Maybe I am a ghost.

But sometimes I meet people who are so innocent that the world seems to be a beautiful place. I have recently met two such people. “Life is indeed beautiful”.

Life is short, Life is funny

Sex is Hot, Sex is funny

(Am glad that it ain’t the other way around Exclaim!Exclaim!Exclaim!)

As Sathya and Me (or is it I) were walking back to my car after watching Evam rehearsing for their new play. “Doubles Triples and Quadruples – Nobody stays Single”, I told Satya (who was busy spotting lesbians on the road. Whattay hobby!!!ha ha ha) “Life is a lesson you learn it when you are through”. Is it not strange that we sometimes end up pitying people. Well I feel we don’t have to pity anyone. Atleast I don’t. I have been dying from the minute I was born. So are you. It has to end someday. My heart goes out to people who have difficulties but it simply does not pity them. No one needs us pitying them even in our thoughts.

My funny serious take on LIFE apart. Evam’s DT&Q will be awesome. They have thought of such small details which others would normally overlook. The show is happening today and tomorrow at the Chinmaya Heritage Centre. If you are willing to join us…please do. It will be fun.

P.S.: One of the Lesbians was actually hot. ) Shit!!! Am I getting desperate…

Hey Welcome to my own web space. It apparently was not done entirely by me. (In fact nothing can be done entirely by any one single person. Simply not possible.) So Thanks to the Grand Uncle of Controversy for helping me setup this blog.

Time for announcements…

Chandroo has announced the Ninth Photowalk. It is happening this Sunday starting at 0700hrs from the base of St. Thomas Mount. It so happens to be one of those places which the Government of Tamilnadu has not renamed. When Mount Road has become Anna Salai I think St. Thomas Mount should have become Anna malai. But our governments have always believed in change. But something are best left unchanged…

Anyhow please do join us for the walk. It is really lots of fun. See you around.

P.S.: At The Altar @ blogspot is something that has and will be close to  me. I do not have the heart to delete it. But I have changed without changing.

I have been in this city for 29 Years now. But there are a lot of places I have never been to. Topping the list would be Panagal park and I finally got to visit the park (It was the starting point of the 8th Chennai Photowalk.) Suprisingly the park is clean. There were even a few people who had come there to spend their evening.. I landed inside Panagal Park really early(Keeping up with my craze for punctuality) and was introduced to a Sharanya Manivannan by Chandroo, I actually needed 10 minutes to figure out who she is. I think I should get myself admitted to some Old Age Home.

Photographers started gathering around the bust of King George V and the walk started out at about 1730 hrs. Lots of fun. We stopped at Madras Bhel Puri for a snack break at about 1900 hrs before continuing towards the Residency Towers which was our Destination.

Dilip has been working with the Aravanis( If you don’t remember Priya Babu from the 7th Chennai Photowalk click here) and the Aravanis need funding to setup an office. Dillip is passionate about his work and he gave a long talk about the History of the Aravanis and the problems they are facing (which will need a post by itself)

The walk ended at about 2000hrs. As usual “A Sunday Well Spent”
Yes We will be doing the walk again on June 22nd 2008, do join us. It is fun guaranteed and you might even find Long Lost Friends and Old Neighbours. (I met Aravind during the 6th Photowalk and yesterday I met Pradeep.)

Click here for my Flickr Photostream.