time pass

see this!
Pressing issue this;-) press isn't leaving me! I don't think many of u can identify W & me there in that photo in today's Hindu- metro!
btw that was happenstance..during one of restore's earth connection trips! we only intended being in that farm and didn't intend being on the Hindu foto:-)
and for some fun to start this week: Garden humour (flicked from a comment in Chennai central)
BTW blog star Thennavan has a posted a nice piece on us and iam grateful and thankful as ever for such mentions. yes, serioulsy I value mentions from such friends and blogsters than MSM.

rattled their rattles, giggled their giggles and screamed their screams!

what a sentence aint? very simple yet intelligent! Poignant and flashy!! catchy yet conveys!!!
I used to dread Salman Rushdie! last (or only) time I tried years back, I had to refer a dictionary every 3rd word. So I never pursued beyond those 5 pages:-)
So Salman for me was over with some hot gossips about Mahalaxmi or his hide outs or just some outrageous comments!
But then last sunday in Times of India there was a short story! Its a must read for simple style and intelligent writing. What observation skill. He is far out, better than most of us in observation of some tambram character. Freak out fella he should be if he has observed so much! The title of this post is just an example. you will find more like "his was a family of mosquitoes, love being their itchy bite.."
Pl see here for that short story called "In the south". amazing!

Hozzatt!

There has been a good coverage in a local tamil magazine (from the famous vikatan house)! those of u who cant read tamil, sorry! get a trans from other tamil friends, else call me for a dinner;-)
note: pl click on each image(page) to enlarge for easy reading.

6 Union minsiters of Bengal!

what?? union minsters of WB, u ask?
I think i heard it right. The great Mamta lady was saying we all TMC central ministers will stay 5 days a week in Bengal and concentrate only on WB!!
Prophetic and far sighted aint?
Good luck to us Indians..

Kudos Sevalaya!

Remember me mentioning of a very interesting and great orphanage – sevalaya? They have done it again! They have done extremely well in the 10th & 12th exams.
100% in 12th and 98% in 10th! The topper in 12th has scored 1100 out of 1200!!!
While there are talks of the exam results, scores, performance of various schools everywhere, this stands out for me.
Imagine all students being 1st generation school-goers and to think that none shall coax or tutor them back home! No tuitions or extra efforts..school is the only choice..for a school to take up only such students and to bring out such extra ordinary results is amazing!hats off Murali! Kudos Sevalaya.
Note: those of u who really want to help a genuine and deserving orphanage/oldage home u can go here and help sevalaya.

Kamal & me

I & Kamalhassan are on the same boat!
Yes my name wasnt there on the voters list (i did have my voter id card!) and so could not vote- just like kamal! So did Kamal.
I was very disappointed and tried moving all stones..went up to the presiding officer who pointed me to talk to the DMK agent there!!! one hour of pruning and running here & there and finally convinced I cant carry out my democratic right, I walked back. None from my family could vote too. There were many of my friends who couldnt vote either:-(
something fishy..
But I could have done something more, like checking a few weeks before if my name was on list etc.
note 1: ofcourse theres more similarity between K & me like alwarpet, eldams roas resident, non-practicing iyengar, brilliant blokes, looks, etc. ;-)
note 2: Madras heat is really blowing me to bits..am off to yelagiri and from there to salem, erode. So I can be very erratic or just absent for the next 1 week.

Secular jindabad!

So a secular leader from that secular-most party attacks and digs the ground right under for a very secular candidate! This candidate's rise in politrix itself goes to ‘dates’ that she gave liberally..
Oh! Coming to the point, the said secular leader is distributing nude photos & posters of this ex bollywood actress. Its another matter that she herself would have posed close to that in the bollywood tradition, but now she is crying..
But, but..dont u think our perverse society will actually vote her for these freebies?
Hey what the heck.. after all she was one of those cuties of those days..if it was 2 decades back, prolly I wud have had a sneak peek;-) and ofcourse delivered some dejected bright statement for the public consumption..hmm..
Note: if u wonder why secular is being attacked for a very political attitude.. Its bcos that secular leader hails from minority the secular-most leader is in a fix and so not admonishing him. Nice fun to watch them all fight among themselves..for such secular reasons!

Election scene

I don’t see that election heat at all as I said earlier..but I have a list of guys who should not win..
First in my list is Azharuddin! He is the congress (who else will do that just bcos he is a minority, u know!) candidate in UP (Moradabad?). He is a shame..one who acted like a politician in sport. He sold the game’s credibility for money. He joined hands with folks like Dawood. He was one man who was the primary reason for the rapid and shameful spread of match fixing in cricket. There were enough proofs and lots of documents!
see here & here
Then comes TR Baalu in my list. He has amassed so much in the last 5 years that he need not ‘earn’ again! He can actually challenge MK family members for the massed wealth!
A Raja! He is a late entrant in to the richest politic! All that I said in the prev para holds good for him. Ok, change that 5 years to 2! One scandal and its mother of all! No body knows how much he swindled..every one is guessing..the guesses range from 60,000 crores to 100,000 crores! Till a couple of years he wudnt have known how many zeroes for a billion and here he is holding them all. As I type this I feel he shud be topping this list, grt grtt..
Any one from Gowda family. They just are not worth it. They also have 1000s of acres & 1000s of crores. They can easily give the MK family run for their money, literally!
Pawar- he is someone who is so insensitive to the agri problems inspite of having the background. He is someone who has blindly given go ahead for GM seeds in india inspite of so much concern, only bcos his concern of some ‘pottis’ have been addressed. Add to that his cricket revenues..so let him as well go & handle that political hot bed than our country’s governance.
There could be many more, but this is just a top 5.
BTW folks, all u who have voting right & the id , just go and cast ur vote for sure. Atleast go the 49-O route but do vote for sure.

Madras in May!

Some of u asked how is the weather at Madras..hmm..I know u r rubbing it in!
I dunno how I missed it and accepted all these commitments for May..
Another May and Iam stuck in Madras, hmpfff.. 2nd time now that Iam caught in madras in may… Hot is an understatement!
As u take bath and are about to put off the tap, u realise that some beads are rolling on u..NO! its not the last mug of water..it has already started sweating:-(
It’s a punishment weather here..what ever people say about it being healthy and all that gas, the reality is its an oven!
Here we go waiting eagerly for the next low pressure or cyclone..

Election scene

phew..actually hardly anything interesting happening aint?
Last time I thought that for the next elections, i should tour North India as always hear it would be very colourful. But I hardly see anything very noteworthy..
the general interest level is so low..one could see that the public have not even been coming forward and voting! the turn out has been so low at most places.
Add to this my busy schedule. Lotsa of touring and I did not even cover many of them here like the trips to point return & solitude organised on behalf of restore and really dirtied our hands and learnt lots. (at restore we organise such farm visits for our volunteers and customers to bring them all to the farm- to get an insight of the amount of work at farm, to have hands on experience, interact with real farmers, see how our produce is grown/ processed, etc). Now I digress, thats for another day.
coming back to elections, the best one that comes from my memory is reserved for Herr. Devi lal! During one of the elections in 80s he had the gumption to address a crowd in haryana that "the central govt is extracting current from our river water(hydel power stations!) and release the water without any power and so we farmers are struggling..". Needless to say here that he won!
Some are ofcourse trying to match that. MK always leads the pack in that. His pronouncements on Srilankan tamils issue has always been non stop nonsense and a good entertainment.
But kalyan singh is leading this time I guess- what with his great secular jump and hand holding with Mr.Secular- Mulayam, he is really freaking out each day with all his talent. He was misled by the top leaders of BJP, he is always for the minority, etc..But remember he did that once already by jumping out of BJP crying wolf and then went back and backed up his majority sentiments and now another flip flop..oh! what wud these creatures do when they see the mirror? ofcourse Laloo as always freaks out and talks bad about the same govt that he was a part of like ramdosses. Pawar always is the only alternative to Deve gowda in such election tamashas..
but still to report of some good one..you see Iam already thinking hard to post another story here..such has the election come to these days..even entertainment value is low..
But all u folks, do exercise your vote, lest someone else does that!