Afloat yet

Vinayaga Chaturti was ten days ago; all the idols of the elephant-headed God would have been immersed in the sea by now (including that one made of silver, valued at Rs.20 lakh). 

This one, however, is in one of the lobbies at The Leela Palace in Chennai and doesn't look like it is going to take a swim anytime now.

Pure water

The city's second desalination plant, and the country's largest, has been operational since February this year. When running to full capacity, this reverse-osmosis based plant at Nemmeli, on the way to Mamallapuram, will supply 100 million litres of treated water every day. To enable that, it takes in a little over 250 million litres of seawater every day from the Bay of Bengal. 

But wait. Doesn't the desalination plant at Minjur also put out 100 MLD of treated water? So how is this the country's largest? Well, the only explanation is that the position is jointly held by these two plants which together provide roughly one-sixth of the city's current fresh water requirements!

Old station

Take away some of those vehicles in front of the building and this picture can be dated anywhere from the time photography began. The building itself probably pre-dates photography and must have been the same when the first officer took charge here. 

Despite redbrick being the standard colour of official buildings in the British era, the police stations of those times stood out distinctly. I am not sure why I feel so, but I guess it must have been because these were the only single storey structures that had the government redbrick motif. Today, only a few of these original structures remain; most other police stations have been pulled down and rebuilt, with more floors and some approximate abomination of the classic redbrick feel.

The E-2 Royapettah Police Station may go that way soon. But until it does, it commands a unique view at the junction of Gowdia Mutt Road and Thiru Vi Ka High Road. And somewhere behind it was the locality named after masons who worked there - Kallukaranpettai, for stone workers. Maybe to thumb a nose at the police station, Kallukaranpettai became Kolakaranpettai - the locality of murderers!

Poignant music

That one turret reminds you this was once called a castle. James Brodie, an employee of the East India Company, was given a grant of 11 acres along the northern bank of the Adyar river. A quick - and not very authoritative - check of Brodie genealogy takes you back to 1262, starting with a MacBeth, Thane of Dykec. James probably thought of re-creating the legends of his clan and so named his house Brodie Castle.

But he invested it more with the tragedy of MacBeth than the grandeur he intended. James Brodie stayed in the castle for a very short time. There was some misunderstanding with the Company over his private trading activities and he fell on hard times. The Castle was let out to the Company administrators. A boating accident (or was it suicide?) in 1801-2 took Brodie's life. Soon after, the house was bought by the Arbuthnots, who let it out to other prominent citizens of Madras. 

The ill-luck stuck on. 1810 - Rev. Edward Vaughan moved in and lost his wife; 1866 - James McIvor of the Bank of Madras lost his family in a boating accident on the Adyar; 1906 - the Arbuthnots had to sell Brodie Castle after they went bankrupt. 1943 - the river rose into the house and soaked Sir Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. In 1952, Kumaraswami Raja, who was occupying Brodie Castle, suffered a shock electoral defeat in his pocket borough of Srivilliputhur. 

Since 1956, the property has been in the hands of the government, as the Government College of Music, Chennai. Even though it has been renamed Thendral, the earlier name is retained in the eastern-most stretch of RK Mutt Road! 

Guess

If you can make the correct guess about where this sign was found, I shall let you take me there. And I promise to enjoy it ;)

Bull temple?

Well, for 'the' bull temple, you will have to go across to Bengaluru, but the thought jumps to mind seeing so many bas-relief Nandis on the wall. This one is however the Kasi Viswanathar temple in West Mambalam. 

Like many other temples in the city, this one also claims a centuries-old antiquity, going back to the 1600s. With the Pandyan kings having brought Kasi to the deep south, the Nayaks probably thought they should also have a version here in Madras and so came up this temple. It is said that there was a large grove of bilwa trees around this place - remember, until the early 20th century, most of today's T.Nagar was a waterbody, the Long Tank abutting the Great Choultry Plain - and it is quite likely the presence of the bilwa grove was a fact. 

With the temple coming up in the bilwa grove, it was referred to as the 'Maha bilwa kshetram', or Mahabilwam - from which, according to some accounts, the name Mambalam originated!

Another park

As has happened with a lot of other agglomerations of manufacturing units, the industrial estate at Ambattur has seen factories being replaced by swank office buildings housing new-age businesses. This space is owned by the Ambattur Clothing Company and was probably used by one of their factories. 

But now, it has the Ambit IT Park, with over a million sqft of space. That makes it one of the sought after addresses of this western suburb, but given that Ambattur itself still remains a lower priority choice (compared to the OMR) for companies, Ambit IT Park does not have the same bustle about it as seen at Tidel Park or at Ascendas.

The other big difference? Unlike at Tidel or even at Ascendas, where trying to get to the food court  involves convincing 4 layers of security, the words "food court" fast-tracks you through into Ambit, because the food court there clearly says they welcome the 'public'!

Late evening

The late evening sun glowing over the flyover on TTK Road.

Marketplace

Less than six months ago, this was the newest mall in Chennai. The line of vehicles to get into the Phoenix MarketCity held up traffic for quite a bit. In those initial days, it took a good 40 minutes of patience before the vehicle got into the mall itself.

In some ways, the mall is still getting ready; shops are still coming up, some of the brands have only their displays up while the store itself is in the works and the footfalls – or tyre-rolls – have kind of tapered off to more reasonable levels.

Had been there in the early days of its opening and then again a couple of months ago. Wonder how all those big name brand stores are doing there, in the midst of all this talk about a poor economy!

Symbolic animal

The State Highway No.78, from Pollachi to Valparai (வால்பாறை, not வாள்பாறை, as I had thought of it earlier), is the best way for a tourist to get to the tea plantations there. The 64km highway starts climbing soon after the Azhiyar dam. It is quite a well maintained road and after a while, one starts seeing the tea plantations, even if they are broken in parts by the shola forests.

To reach the hill-tops, which are at around 1200 metres, the road navigates 40 hairpin bends. We were advised to watch the hairpin bends 7 and 9 very closely. Not much to do with the driving, but for the view. Bend #9 is much more sweeping than the others and there is a little platform abutting the curve, where one gets a panoramic view of the Azhiyar reservoir and the hills around. A board there also talks about possible wild animal sightings there. We were excited about that possibility and were looking forward to Bend #9.

The earlier bend was therefore quite a surprise. As the vehicle slowed down, we saw what we thought were donkeys on the road. With horns? There were a couple of them by the roadside and when we recognized what they were, we had to jump off and take pictures; here is one, of the Nilgiri Tahr, the State Animal of Tamil Nadu!

Peacocks in church

Today's is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This date was described in the Protoevangelium of James, where he names her parents as well: Joachim and Anna. The childless couple was blessed by an angel. The birthday of Mary is celebrated nine months after the Feast of Immaculate Conception, which is on December 8. That Feast is usually thought of as a celebration of the conception of Jesus - but it is not so.

For the day today, here is a picture of the statue of Jesus inside the San Thome Basilica. Notice the peacocks - a nod to the time when Mylapore lived up to its name as the town of peacocks!

'Snuff said

Trekking in the wet, there is always a chance that the leeches will get you. The best option is get leech socks, but if you have forgotten to bring them along, this is an alternate solution. 

Only problem is that the leech will bite you first; most of the time, you do not feel the bite. Once it has had its fill, it will just drop off; if you try to pull it off in the meantime, its mouthparts might get left behind (unless you slide your finger under it, slowly releasing the suction before flicking it away) on your skin.

If you feel repulsed at the thought of touching the leech, there are several other options - drop salt, light a match near it, soap solution.... and this. Tobacco snuff gets them to drop off quickly. But there is still a danger that the mouthparts may stay - or worse. So, make sure you don't forget those leech socks!

Painting

At the hotel that was earlier known as Chola Sheraton; now labelled My Fortune

City bird

You may have been used to seeing - or hearing about - animals roaming around the city's streets. There are still a few of them, but you will have to be lucky to spot them these days. 

Even harder to spot is this bird. You would not see them on the streets; but the gardens of Kalakshetra have a couple of them, most probably pets. So the next time you get a chance to go inside the campus, watch out for the peafowls!

Musician in hall

A picture of one of the halls at the Government College of Music, Chennai. And quite appropriate that the only person in it is Sanjay Subrahmanyan, the Carnatic vocalist!

Prayer hall

When the good folk of Chennai talk about the mosque at Thousand Lights, the usual image that comes to mind would be something like the one in this post. But that is a much later addition, nowhere as old as this building - the Abbasi Ashur Khana.

This was the hall that was once so wonderous, with its splendid lamps glowing brighter than the noonday sun. And that is why the area around it has taken on one of the names given to this Ashur Khana - the Hall of Thousand Lights. 

Weather-beaten

I am still not convinced that the dome in the picture is really a part of the main business of the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Nungambakkam. It looks a bit like an oddly-shaped water-tank, but being where it is, I must accept that it is very likely to have a scientific purpose. The RMC is, of course, one of the six such across the country; this one covers the four southern states, Pondicherry and Lakshadweep. 

Although the RMC was formally set up only on April 1, 1945, its beginnings go back to 1769. The transit of Venus that year saw a lot of activity, which ultimately ended up, unfortunately, with little to show for it. One of those who must have been deeply affected by this was William Petrie, who was at that time a junior civil servant in Fort St George. By 1786, Petrie was a big shot and had enough money to spare for an iron-and-timber observatory, its instruments and to employ an assistant named John Goldingham. By 1792, when Sir Charles Oakeley was the Governor of Madras, the proposal for an observatory was backed by Micheal Topping, who had made a name himself as the 'most talented and highly qualified all-round surveyor of the East India Company'. Petrie's instruments, and the observatory itself, were moved to a garden house on the banks of the Cooum, with John Goldingham taking charge as the first Astronomer.

That, of course, was the first Observatory in the country. Having been reduced to a mere RMC now cannot take that credit away from it, no matter how the wind blows!

Theme: Pink

Over at the City Daily Photo portal, the theme for September 1 is "Pink". There was nothing much I could find in pink (okay, I didn't try hard enough), because Chennai wears yellow, especially with the Champions League T20 coming up later this month. 

But this old picture came to my rescue, and along with it, a story. Everyone knows this is the Bougainvilla; a plant so common here that it is difficult to believe it is an exotic species, having arrived from South America, possibly through French travellers. I say French, because even in the latter half of the 18th century, the French were optimistic enough about their chances in India - and it was a Frenchman, Philibert Commerçon, who is credited as being the first European to describe these flowers. He was the botanist on board an expedition to circumnavigate the world; it is not unusual that he named the flower after the expedition's leader, Louis Antoine de Bougainville.

But it is also said that the credit for first observing these plants should go to Jeanne Barét. She had sneaked aboard de Bougainville's ship dressed as a man, pretending to be her lover Commerçon's valet. And it was she who had brought these woody vines back from a field trip; Commerçon's contribution was in the naming. Jeanne's disguise was unmasked before the end of the expedition, but she did complete it - and thereby became the first woman to circumnavigate the world!

Hooray for pink!

Interested in more pink stuff? This is where you need to go today!

History house

You can be forgiven for passing by this crumbling ruin even without a first look. It is certainly not an advertisement for the attractions of Fort St George; even though it is listed as a protected monument, it has certainly been left unprotected for a very long time. 

Once upon a time, this was the residence of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. This is the same Wellesley who went on to be a hero at the battle of Waterloo, but for all that, he does not seem to have had made much of an impression on the good people of Madras. 

Unlike its neighbour, Clive House, the Wellesley house is just marking time until it comes down completely. So, if you want to see (what is left of) it, head out to the Fort right now! 

Watch the type

They don't make these anymore.

Chennai had at least two factories making big typewriter brands. Both were from the same group, but Halda was the more prominent of the two, with its factory right on Mount Road. I can't remember ever having seen the factory - in fact I am sure that by the 1990s, the factory had ceased production - but even as recently as 2007, news reports referred to that site as the "Halda Junction". That factory was started in 1956 with a capacity of about 3,500 typewriters annually - with keyboards in 3 languages. By 1960, they had expanded the plant, with capacity going up to 15,000 units and by one report, 83% of the parts being indigenously manufactured.

Halda AB, the Swedish parent had another brand, Facit, which turned out typewriters from its factory in Perungudi. I haven't been able to get much information on when this was started, or when it stopped, but by the 1980s, the typewriter's days were numbered. Halda AB had put their typewriter business on the block; passing through a few hands, they were finally laid to rest sometime in the 1990s. Without any competition, Godrej & Boyce continued making their machines into the 21st century. That sole manufacturer of manual typewriters in the world finally shut production down in April 2011. 

Halda continues to be around today, though in a different avatar. Check out this site!

Early Onam?

Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala, is still a couple of weeks away. It is tradition that in the 10 days leading up to Onam, every house creates a pookalam (flower pattern), a fresh one every day, preferably growing in size and complexity so that the one on Thirvonam day is quite large and intricate.

A hotel in Chennai seems to have started early: this was in its lobby at least a month before the festival day!

Chennai heat

The rains of the Southwest monsoon stopped a few weeks ago and it is too early for its Northeast cousin to visit us yet. It has been steaming up in the city as we move into the second, or third, of the four summers? The other subject in the picture - autorickshaw meters - have been in the news for the past few days, with the government having fixed the fares after many many years.

But the autos have time until October 15 to ensure compliance. Hopefully, the rains would be back then and the city - as well as the auto meters - would be less hot then!

Metro matters

It has taken a little over four years and the Chennai Metro appears to be on track for taking on the first set of passengers early next year. Put together, the two corridors will have a tad over 45km of track, of which 24km would run underground. This is a picture of a section of Corridor 2 (Central to St Thomas Mount), between Arumbakkam and Vadapazhani. A map of the corridors can be seen here. 

How may stations does the Chennai Metro have? That was a question at the Madras Quiz, to which many teams knew the answer (no, we did not). Each of the corridors has 17 stations. Another question was to identify which is the only station common to both corridors - that's the Alandur station, near the airport (which we knew). But the correct answer to the first question was given as 32 - which doesn't add up.

One explanation is that the number would depend on how you count the stations. Going by their names, there are only 32. Apart from Alandur, the other common name is Central Metro; on the map, however, the corridors show distinct stations, so if we were to go by that count, there would really be 33 stations. 

And then, there would be some who might insist on adding up the stations and claiming that there are actually 34!

Merry go-round

In real-life, this looks a bit tacky, but the picture has somehow caught the light inside the carousel's centrepiece and makes it look good. At MGM Dizzee World

The first SEZ

India can take credit for a lot of firsts on the global stage and Chennai can do likewise on the national stage (and in some cases, globally as well). That's why many consider Chennai (Madras) to be the first city of modern India. And, as the place where it all began, Fort St George can take pride in all the firsts that have been listed.

There is however one 'first' that has not been considered. And that's what my wife told me last evening. "Do you realize" said she, "that Fort St George is the first SEZ in the country?". That's true. When it was set up, 374 years ago, the fort was exempt from paying any taxes on its revenues. It was also allowed duty-free imports, so by practical standards, this factory on the Coromandel coast could indeed have been India's first Special Economic Zone!

School types

The building looks like it has been permanently stuck in the 1970s or thereabouts. The business touted on the signboard, advertising typewriting and shorthand courses, should have gone bust at least in the later part of the 1990s. That it hasn't is probably an endorsement of some forms of technology; in fact, Kremlin seems to have plumped for it as their answer to the Edward Snowden challenge, as it were.  

Back to the facts here: the list of 'Approved Commerce Institutes" on the state government's website runs into 110 pages - that is roughly 2,000 such Typewriting and Shorthand Schools. The vast majority of them seems to be based in Chennai and it would be good to find out what the situation is like in the other states - I can imagine Kerala having a similar number, but no clue about any of the others. 

So how many of you have seen notes being taken down in shorthand, these days?

Sandwiched

The Nawabs of Wallajah had a significant presence in the Madras of the British East India Company's days. Apart from the Nawabs themselves, significant courtiers were also patrons of the city and they sometimes left a memory behind. Those could certainly not be allowed to overshadow the Nawabs' legacy - still, that's no reason for this mosque to be bullied by the buildings next to it.

Bahram Jung, or, to give him his full address, Muhammad Abdullah Qadir Nawaz Khan Bahadur Bahram Jung, was in the services of the Nawab between 1789 and 1795. As the personal advisor of Nawab Umdat-ul-Umrah, Bahram was the interlocutor to negotiate borrowings for the Nawab. And there was a quite a lot of borrowing, to the extent that when Umdat-ul-Umrah died and the creditors began pressing for repayment, the British had to step in. They confiscated all of Bahram's jagirs and gave him a stipend that he could barely subsist upon. This mosque was certainly built during Bahram's better times, towards the end of the 18th century.

Can't spot it? You can see the two minarets - miniminarettes, really - to the right of the Witco sign. Must try to go in there, sometime. It will surely be a squeeze!

Unusual music

What is so unusual about a Sivalingam, you ask? Well, it is not just about the lingam, though it is not often that a regularly tended-for lingam is left out in the open. Look beyond the lingam, to the figure under the canopy. That is Nandi, Siva's vehicle. It is not difficult to recognise him, even when he is shown in a rare anthropomorphic representation.

It is not usual that Nandi is housed under a roof when Siva is left to the mercy of the elements. As I said, this is not a usual Nandi. The statue is shown seated, playing the mridangam, recalling the fabled performance when Nandi played the deva vaadyam (heavenly instrument) as the accompaniment to Siva's cosmic dance.  That instrument, it is believed, is what the mridangam evolved from. 

At the Government College of Music, Chennai, it is entirely appropriate that the musician rates that bit higher!

Lighthouse trivia

I have posted earlier about Chennai's newest lighthouse, but this picture was too good to ignore, so I'm re-hashing some of the trivia around this lighthouse. 

It is the only lighthouse in India that has a triangular cross section (for the most part, at least). It is also the only lighthouse in India that has an elevator inside it. It's counterpart on the second point in the USA - the only lighthouse with an elevator - is called the Charleston Light, at Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. Incidentally, that is also a triangular building!

Double road

Of course, being confused over roads with similar names is quite usual. But here is one that takes the cake. The sign shows a turn off from TTK Road. What is unusual is that the side road is also called TTK Road!

Roses for the lady?

Valentine's Day, 2013. Thought we'd go for a 'Blind Date' show at Sathyam. But work happened. And am left with this picture of roses piled up at West Mambalam. 

But wait, who's that lady in the background?!

Special branch

In one way, this branch of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative State Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Ltd, in Alwarpet, is special because it operates as an affiliating bank, linking up close to 200 Primary Agriculture and Rural Development Banks across the state. The Bank itself was set up in 1929 to provide long term finance for some basic agriculture-related activities. Over many years, the bank has surely provided relief to many thousands of farmers in Tamil Nadu. However, this branch is also special for another reason - and that reason is why one gets to see a goodly crowd here, even if they are not agricultural loan applicants. 

In 1968, several employees of this branch decided that, apart from financial assistance, some spiritual guidance must also be made available. For reasons that I'm slightly fuzzy about, their deity of choice was Hanuman - also known as Anjaneyar - and set up a temple inside the bank's compound. Very soon, the temple began to attract students preparing for their Chartered Accountancy exams. Maybe they believed that this Anjaneyar had inside knowledge of accounts. Maybe it was just convenient for them to drop by after their CA classes, many of which were held in nearby Mylapore. Over the years, the belief in Anjaneyar's specialisation was expanded to cover any course that was bracketed with the letters C and A; CWA, CFA, CIA and why, even the CPA exams would be easier if you dropped by for a quick prayer here. 

The place is now better known for the temple than the bank itself. Ask any aspiring CA about the TNCSARD Bank and you will get blank stares, but s/he would definitely know about CA Anjaneyar, or Bank Anjaneyar!

Thirsty birds

It is just February and Chennai is getting into its second season - the 'Hotter' season. Temperatures are in the high 20s and are expected to move into the 30s during this week (and that's Celsius, in case you're wondering). Not dog days, yet, but bird days, maybe?

At the Ambattur Industrial Estate, there is certainly one bird lover, at least. Outside a factory gate, there is this mid-sized ficus growing. As in many other places, a shrine has come up under the ficus, showing all signs of being well tended to. On a more practical note, however, is the provisioning of water; there is a mud-pot in the shade, which I guess is for humans. The bird lover has gone further and set up this drinking trough, with some space for grains as well. We didn't get to see any bird use it - maybe they have to learn Tamizh, for it clearly says on the trough that it is "பறவைகள் தண்ணீர் குடிக்க (for birds to drink)"!

Cool priest

There are some smoke-less puja kits available, apparently. But does that serve the purpose? Have long held the belief that the smoke permeating into every room is a key aspect of the puja itself. Wouldn't like to lose that in a hurry.

But it makes your eyes water. And turn red. Could this be a solution? The priest was prepared, and maybe, next time, I shall be, too!

Training Centre

The Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers' Association (AIEMA) is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. That's a bit surprising, because, just a little distance away from this building complex is a foundation stone saying that the Industrial Estate was inaugurated on July 3, 1965. It is quite likely that the Association pre-dated the formal Estate; Ambattur is one of those suburbs of the city that pre-dates the creation of the city of Madras itself.

The Technology Centre of the AIEMA came up a while after the Estate itself began functioning. It appears to have been set up with a lot of foresight; even 30 years after it began functioning, it seems to have quite a bit of space. Space enough for it to have its own exhibition area as well as grounds for outdoor events.

The golden jubilee celebrations appear to be in full swing. It would be nice to get there for an event or two! 

Fast food

The signboard says, rather grandly, "Drive In". Look at it, one barely has room to walk into this curry corner, let alone attempt to take a vehicle into it. Somehow, the late night revellers have never taken the sign literally. Maybe it is because they know that if not for this joint, they wouldn't have anywhere else to go when they remember that they haven't had dinner yet.

Midnight Express, on TTK Road, usually sees a lot of action in the early hours - between midnight and about 2 am. It may not have been the first to spot a niche in the post-late-movie empty stomachs, but it has been more enduring than the others. The food is nothing much to speak of; for vegetarians, there is indeed nothing to speak of. But late at night, when you're in the right spirit, paya or keema dosa is almost like manna from heaven. 

Apart from being the last joint to close, Midnight Express has another advantage. They never run out of seating space for customers here. Simple. They are perfectly okay to serve you at your vehicle, even if you are sitting on your bike 100 feet away from their doors. Maybe that's what "Drive In" means!

Cafe Irani

While Madras did have its share of Parsis and Zoroastrians, they were certainly not as numerous as those of Bombay. Yet, there were enough of them around for these kind of cafes to be recognized as a distinct niche - the Irani cafe. 

They were probably the first 'chain' of cafes. The red-on-white lettering, with nothing else on it but 'Irani', was used by all such cafes. I remember just a few of these in Chennai. There were a couple on Mount Road, one near the Thousand Lights mosque and another near the Wallajah Road junction. There was one on General Patters Road. And then this one Thambu Chetty Street, George Town.

Though I remember them from school / college days, I can't for the life of me think about what unique cuisine they had. I don't think I've ever had dhansak or bun-maska at these places. But there is a faint whiff of those mutton samosas - small ones, deep fried.... or am I just dreaming? Does anyone remember what their favourite was at these joints?

Nearby

Nothing to do with Chennai, specifically. Just a random picture to remind us that Pondicherry - now Puducherry - was always nearby...

Enclosed shrine

How many times have you seen a shrine within a building? Especially when that building, from the outside, does not appear to have much to do with religion?

Paramananda Doss and Chotta Doss began their silk trade in Mint Street in 1888, becoming one of the first in south India to source cloth from Benares. They had printed catalogues detailing their products - embroidered cashmere shawls, Calcutta linen, China white silk, khilat and kincob pieces - all of which would have been quite exotic to the good people of Madras. Their prices were reasonable enough and the brothers were fastidious about quality to the extent that their patrons were comfortable in sending "their orders by post". In fact, their displays won "gold medals and first-class certificates" at the Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition three years in a row - in 1903, '04 and '05. 

With business being good, the brothers put aside some money to charity, constructing a dharmasala just north of today's Chennai Central station. It had the traditional central courtyard, open to the sky, around which were arranged rooms for travellers. Whether it was to cater to the spiritual needs of the travellers or to prevent them from getting too high-spirited, I am uncertain; but this shrine in the central courtyard came up a little after the building itself. The pujas and rituals continue here to this day. Sadly, succeeding generations of the Dosses seem to have got themselves mired in litigation and, as far as I can make out, the firm does not exist in its original form today.

Sailing out

That's the 'Tiger Bridge' getting out of the Chennai Port a few months ago. 

For more posts about Chennai's harbour, click here. And if you would like to know more about the ship itself, this is the place to go. And for its home port, Majuro - there is always Wikipedia!

Temple sign

To all those who think people in Chennai don't speak anything other than Tamizh (or "Madras bashai": take a look at this sign. 

Now, how about a bit of English, as well?

Sparrow family

The IUCN's Red List continues to list them as 'least concern', because of their large range and, within that range, their numbers seem to be large enough to be not worried about. If Chennai had a Red List, however, these birds (Passer domesticus) would be heading that list. A generation ago, you were in danger of these birds building a nest in your hair if you stood still for long enough. Today, their nests are not to be seen at all. 

First noticed this family at Santhome, just across the road from the AIR station, a few months ago. There were about eight of them, and they weren't too worried about people around them. And then I saw them again yesterday. Didn't watch them for long, but I got the feeling that they were all there. Maybe we've taken them for granted too often for too long; I'm sure you don't believe me when I say they are almost non-existent in Chennai. But think about it, when did you last see one?

If you would like to do something about helping these birds, you can start off with getting them a nest box. You can find the link on this site - and do let us know when the sparrows start using them!

Water woes

If you had grown up in the 1970s and 80s in Madras, you will look at this with nostalgia. Pumping iron had a completely different meaning, but you had to get this mechanism going before you could use it as your personal gym. That first mug of water, poured into the barrel as you start moving the lever up and down, to "build up presser". And the thrill of hearing the wheezing change into a solid thump as the water surges through the pipes in time to your pumping. One-handed pumping, making sure the "presser" did not drop until all the buckets in the house were full, keeping the flow of water even - all these were forms of entertainment. 

Not to mention the "body-building" aspect of this. Good exercise for your arms to fill up ten buckets of water every day. And then to carry them to various points in the house, all full, hoping that mom doesn't notice the spilled drops before you had a chance to wipe them dry... well, that kind of thing doesn't happen these days. 

For starters, the water availability is itself suspect. After a less than average monsoon, Chennai city is going to have a difficult time in the summer ahead. Start conserving. Now!

Umbrella

That's the theme for the month for the CDP bloggers. 

These umbrellas cannot be rolled up, however. At the Bhaktavatsala Perumal temple at Thiruninravur, the deity was being paraded through the streets around the temple as part of the bhramotsavam. The March sun is hot and it wouldn't do to have it strike the idol directly. So, along with the palanquin bearers are the umbrella carriers...

...to see more umbrellas from around the world, take a look here.