CCC - Car Cleaner Cartel

You don’t have to be an expert in economics to know that the automobile industry in India has grown like crazy in the last decade and more, with the 4-wheeler segment making significant strides in terms of volume. A relatively undocumented offshoot of this is the job opportunities it has created for non-car owners. There are more mechanics, more puncture shops, more drivers and most importantly, a lot of car cleaners.

I first observed this in 2003, when I used to carpool with a friend of mine who lived in a high-rise apartment. There used to be around 50 cars in that complex and my friend pointed me to a guy cleaning one of the cars and told me that he was the watchman; one who took up an additional job that paid him well and was co-located with the place of his main job.

For a long time, I used to be hell bent on cleaning my car on my own, but there was a limit to how long I could procrastinate enjoying laziness (is there an oxymoron somewhere there?).  I too started using the services of the local guys who cleaned cars and this is going on now for a long time.

Most of these guys are actually kids in their late teens and take up this work in the morning, before leaving to school/college. But in the last one year, I have a much older guy doing the job and he was definitely doing a much better job than any of the other guys before. For reasons better known to him, the guy has been absconding from July and though some people have spotted him in the neighbourhood, he hasn’t come back to this car cleaning job.

So, we had to reach out to the local kids and that is when we found out about the existence of a cartel; a Car Cleaning Cartel. Apparently, there is a youngster in his early 20s who scouts our adjoining 5-6 streets and identifies cars that need to be cleaned. He then reaches out to the owners and offers his services and quotes a rate. When the owner checks with his friend in the next building, he pretty much hears the same rate and decides to employ him.

But on the day of the job, this youngster brings along a friend who proceeds to clean the car. And then on, this kid is tagged to this house and car. At the end of the month, the car owner pays this kid his monthly pay and the kid, gives a subscription fee to the youngster who brought him this job! When this kid needs to take a day off, one of his friends, who is also in that youngster’s net, shows up and ensures that the car owner never has to deduct a day’s salary.

This looks and sounds (and probably is) like the way the mafia works. Or how, a monopoly market is created. Anybody who needs to have their car cleaned has to reach out to this cartel. If not, you have to search high and low to find a cleaner and even if you do, on days that person is on leave, you have a dirty car. Not so, if you use the cartel. They ensure that someone always shows up at your doorstep and in matter of 7-8 minutes, leave you with a less dirty car. 

The Anniversary that coincides with India’s Republic Day

Today, on the 12th Anniversary of a great event in my life, the time has now come for me to officially document it in this blog. Some of you have heard me narrate the story and for the benefit of the few who haven’t, here is that very interesting event.

We first rewind to India’s first Republic Day of the new millennium – 26-Jan-2000. I was well into my 2nd year at work and it was also just more than a month since my family had purchased our first car – a Cyprus Blue coloured Maruti Suzuki 800 DX. I hadn’t gotten my permanent driving license as yet and was still on my learner’s license. Also, my car driving experience by itself was only 2 weeks more than my car owning experience. Given this situation, I used to drive the car at every opportunity, within my neighbourhood, to gain more experience and confidence.

On the date indicated above, two of my friends from school had dropped home. We then decided to go to the beach. Though the beach is barely 300 metres from home, I opted to take the car. And for reasons I just don’t remember or fathom, those two guys decided to take the bike and not come with me by car.

For such a short distance, it is always faster by bike and those two reached the beach first. I tried to get a parking spot near where they were standing, but couldn’t find one. So I had to drive down a little further, take a U-Turn and park on the other side of the road. When I reached the other side, I was driving slowly, looking for a parking spot. Also, I had my windows rolled down, probably because I didn’t want to use the AC for such a short distance.

Even as I was looking for a spot, some 2-3 guys ran across the road into the lane and appeared to be headed towards my car. One of them reached my car faster than his friends and punched my face! I just had no clue what was happening. Then they all asked me to step out of the car. I did and in a completely disoriented and nervous state, was asking them why there were hitting me. One of those guys was holding me by the scruff of my shirt/t-shirt and another one gave me one more slap.

I was barely aware of what was happening, when a crowd gathered around us. The 2-3 guys were hurling abuses at me and primarily accusing me of trying to run over them! I tried reasoning with them, but I think my voice box refused to pass on to the world, the words that my brain was sending to it.

All this while, the crowd around us was just enjoying their free entertainment for the Holiday. Thankfully, mobile phones especially those with cameras weren’t sold for dime a dozen, else, I would by now be on You Tube.

Anyways, out of the blue, two policemen, on a TVS Champ, came towards this gathering. The crowd finally swung into some action and dispersed. The 2-3 guys also ran away. Being the major சமத்து (innocent) guy that I am, I suddenly got worried that the cops would ask me for my license and on seeing my learner’s license, would probably take me into custody. So, I ended up doing a non-innocent act and fled the scene in my car. 

While you may be engrossed in the narration, feeling sorry for me (or more likely be ROFL), your attention should now be directed towards the two friends of mine, who have been absent from the narrative for the past 2000 words. They now make a re-entry.

When I reached home, I stopped a few meters short my gate, primarily to examine the damage to my face. Just then, my two friends came nearby on their bike and asked me what happened. They patiently heard me narrate the incident. With their support, it was now easier for me to enter my home. My parents obviously got the shock of their life seeing their son with a big blue patch around the right eye and a completely reddened face. We went over the story once again and that is where, I found out more about what happened.

Apparently, after I crossed my friends at the beach, they saw some 2-3 guys walking near the road in a very inebriated condition. A blue coloured car had gone past them and they were miffed by the proximity it had with them. These guys had seen the car go further down, couldn’t track where it really went and when they suddenly saw a similar (similar; not same) coloured car (mine) in the opposite direction, the alcohol in their blood stream made them decide that it was me who had almost run them over.

You would still be wondering why my friends didn’t come over to help. Basically, they first saw me go by; then saw this near-accident and then, they were just chatting and looking elsewhere (at someone I suspect). They saw the crowd gathering a few seconds/minutes later and had no clue that I was there in middle. In fact, they seemed to be looking out for me in some other direction. Only when they saw the crowd disperse and spotted my car also speeding away, did they realise that I too had something to do with that gathering!

Needless to say, they were continuously chuckling while narrating their side of the story.
I was then taken to the Doctor, who gave me some medicines and did some basic cleaning of the external wounds. My colleagues at work had a tough time in accepting that someone as innocent as me could get such beatings, though my boss strongly suspected (in front of my colleagues) that I got whacked by a girl’s sandals.

So there it is; Yours Truly has been a victim of a public beating also known as தர்ம அடி. 

Paari, Mullai, Thaer, Maruti

Legend has it that one of the Tamizh Kings - Paari Vaendhan - "donated" his chariot (thaer - தேர் ) to help the Mullai (முல்லை ) creeper (could be a variety of jasmine) grow.

I found a similar spectacle in Adyar a couple of days back. But in the modern day, the thaer has been replaced with a Maruti Suzuki 800. And the creeper too, may not necessarily be a mullai.

Lemon Squash recipe

Soak lemon (4 numbers) in water for 12 hours.
Remove lemon and drain the water.
Place one lemon...

I may not have road rage anymore

Last evening, I was returning back from the office, along with a couple of friends. After passing the Pallavaram bus stand on GST road, a maroon Wagon-R cut into my lane, quite sharply. He moved in from my left and literally bulldozed his way in front of me.

Those of you who have travelled with me, may have experienced my reaction in such situations. I blare my car horn like crazy or keep flashing the headlights for a few seconds. Depending on the intensity of anger, the few seconds can be up to 5 or 6. Five seconds may appear to be very less in the larger context of life, but try honking and flashing the headlights for 5 continuous seconds and you will realise that it is indeed a long time!

In addition to the visible displays of displeasure, I let lose

The Crow in my car

With the arrival of the Blue Eyed Boy at home, 3 months back, my Baleno has been relegated to the front parking spot at home. This evening, a small crow suddenly fell down between my car and the wall of the house. In our attempts to shoo it away, we only succeeded in making the crow take refuge underneath the car.

The next thing we did was to try and scare it by spraying water from one end of the car, with the hope that it would then totter over from the other side. But the poor thing got scared and somehow, managed to rest on the axle of the rear wheel on the right side.

I then tried kicking the tyre and shaking my car, hoping that the crow would budge, but it didn't I then took a rather long broom, reached in from the back of the car and tried to poke it out. And all that I managed to do was to bring out the best manoeuvre of the crow, which somehow squeezed itself on to the tyre of my car. As seen in the picture below:

I now hoped that since it was technically on the outside of the car, it would jump out. I continued to shake the car, albeit this time it was from the back. Again, no movement. I brought out a torch and checked whether the crow was caught somewhere in the gaps and had probably died. But even the dim ray of light from the torch showed that the crow was alive.

I gathered courage and tried poking the crow using the broom. Somehow, the crow didn't mind all this poking and I started to suspect that it probably liked the poking. Maybe it was getting a crow's equivalent of an acupuncture treatment.

I then called up my friend who is generally quite knowledgeable in all matters under the sun (also in the sun, over the sun and to the sides of the sun). But for some vague reason, he seemed to be more interested in talking to his brother in the US than even trying to find out why I was calling him in the first place. And in a twist of fate, his brother didn't continue the call and so, he called me back to find out the problem. And his solution was to start the car or honk it or both or for good measure, try moving the car slowly. I was quite petrified in doing any or all of it, but as any trusted disciple would do, followed my master.

I started my car and released the parking brake, with the hope that the little movement in the wheels would get the crow going. But no. So, finally my parents and one of their senior citizen friends who was talking to them at our gate, strongly advised me to simply walk away from the car. The reasoning behind that idea was that the crow was bound to get bored and walk away.

I accepted this option and lo behold, the baby crow started cawing in a couple of minutes. This attracted a couple of bigger crows in the vicinity and finally, one of them bigger ones came down to ground. It inspected the source of the caw and from the manner in which it was running around the car, cawing back and forth with the younger one, I am strongly inclined to think that this bigger one was the Mother Crow and right or wrong, I am going to refer to this crow with that title for the remainder of this post. The usage of words like Mother Crow and Baby Crow may make you think that I am reading too many children's book, but rest assured that it is not the case. You can see the Mother Crow's work here:

The cawing continued and the Mother Crow started jumping towards the Baby Crow's perch, to try and pull the Baby Crow out. It didn't really succeed and moreover, the Mother Crow also started getting quite concerned that I was standing in the vicinity.



Initially I was only trying to take a video of the whole rescue operation. But I felt that with the darkness increasing, the crows may probably not be able to execute their rescue plan correctly.

So I took the torch and started shining it towards the wheelbase, though I was at least some 5-6 feet diagonally away from the front-right side of the car (as should be evident from the pictures). But the Mother Crow somehow didn't like me acting like the Nightingale With The Lamp and started approaching me with louder caws.

Communication, as you may have heard in multiple forums, is not just about what you convey in your language, it is quite often about what you convey without saying anything, using your body language. Similarly, in this case, while I didn't understand what the Mother Crow was cawing to me, I sure did understand from its rather aggressive approach towards where I was standing,  that it didn't want me to shine the torch at it or its Baby.

After a couple of more attempts, the Baby Crow finally decided to budge out of its hiding or resting place and actually jumped out of the wheelbase to the cemented ground below. The Mother Crow came close and somehow egged on this Baby Crow to fly up, though the flight was just a high jump of 3 feet, into the branches of a tree nearby. You can see this video here (Apologies for the poor quality video):



All in all, it was a rather interesting evening for me. I found the drama that unfolded in front of me, quite charming actually!

You can see both videos here:

Video 1
Video 2

The Blue Eyed Boy has come home – my new Wagon-R

Last Thursday, the 27th of May 2010, I drove home my new Wagon-R. This is Suzuki's revamped Wagon-R model, which is seeing changes in the interiors, the exteriors and also the mechanicals. Yet, it still retains enough identity to be recognized as a Wagon-R, thanks to its height, which is supposedly the tallest in its class.

Maruti Suzuki has launched this car in April 2010 with the tag line "The Blue Eyed Boy" and have gone ahead and placed a small blue colored glass above the new and bold headlamps, giving the image of an eyebrow above the eye. I bought the top-end VXi model and it has left me lighter in the bank balance by around INR 4.28 Lakhs. For other details on the car, you can visit Maruti Suzuki's website.

While we were waiting for the car to be registered and in fact, for the car to reach the dealer, we went through the usual routine of identifying an auspicious day. We requested the salesperson to ensure that the car was registered only on the day we indicated. However, due to some issues in the shipment, there was a delay by 2 days and we were left with a situation of having to postpone the registration by almost a week. That would have also meant an additional cost of 8K INR, because the TN government had passed a bill to hike the registration cost of new vehicles by 2% effective 1st June.

So, after much breaking of head, we finally decided to take delivery of the car on Thursday, the 27th of May and then get it registered the next day. But luckily, the dealer was able to get even the registration done on the 27th itself. So, that evening, I went to pick up the car, along with my father.

As part of handing over the car, the guys at the dealer actually do a poojai first and then hand over the keys to you. They put a garland, apply sandal-kungumam spots at various strategic locations on the glass and do a full-fledged karpooram lighting. We are then asked to drive out by squeezing out lemons placed in front of each wheel.

But, this above poojai was by the dealer. The car owners also have to do a poojai at the temple of their choice. Ours, was the Varasiddhi Vinayagar temple. I went and parked the car there and one of the priests who was right at the entrance, came forward. We told him that we wanted to do the car poojai and he said in the most nonchalant manner possible, "pannalaamae".

He then asked me to pop the hood. I went back and started feeling the usual place where the hood release is available. But I just couldn't locate it. A frantic search, accompanied by attempts to throw some light from my mobile phone in the area, was launched, but to no avail. The priest seeing my predicament, asked me to step aside. And in a matter of barely 1.63 seconds, he located the lever to release the trunk. The worst part after this was the "smirky" look he gave me. I don't think I have felt so much shame in the recent past.

He then went about his duty doing all the archanais at the various sannidhis and also came up and did the karpoora aaradhanai in and around the car. I finally came home by 8 PM in the new car.

I haven't driven much in the last 5 days that it has come here. I went out with my parents to the local temples on Saturday and I met up with few friends on Sunday evening. But I find the car to be quite good in the 40 odd Kms that I have driven so far.

2 months after we bought our first car, I went off to the US for 3 years. Barely 2 weeks after the second car was bought, I was shuttled out to Zurich for 2 weeks and in the following year, I was packed off to Bangalore and Melbourne for almost 6 months. Let's wait and see if that "luck" would continue with this one as well.

It was not just the tree that killed Pavit Singh

On the evening/night of 2nd May 2010, an accident took place at 3rd Avenue Besant Nagar. The stretch of the road is also referred to as the Besant Avenue. The accident spot is just off the curve around the Besant Scout Camp, when you travelling from Adyar towards Besant Nagar.

The accident was quite gruesome and involved a car crashing into a tree. The driver of the car, Pavit Singh, 21 years old, died on the spot. I express my heart-felt condolences to his near and dear.

I am not writing this post as a eulogy to the dead man, because, I just don't know who he is. I am writing this because, I am not happy with the outcome of this tragic event.

What was the outcome? Well, the Police and much of the public have arrived at the conclusion that the accident took place because of the tree that was in the middle of the road and the fatality ensued because the driver wasn’t wearing a seat belt. And the Police have gone ahead and cut down the trees. But, I beg to differ. The reason in my firm opinion is rash driving.

I have been travelling on that road for practically my entire life. I have been driving quite regularly too on that road. And if you drive with discipline, it is one of the most pleasurable drives you can get in the city, what with the smooth surface and dense foliage in the form of old trees. Even in the day time during peak summers, one can find a distinct difference in the temperature there.

However, the youth have been known to drive very indiscriminately on that stretch. The bikers are especially the worst of the lot. With the improving economy in the last few years, more cars have also joined the list.

The other fact is that, a lot of these drivers and riders are new to the stretch. They generally see a pretty wide stretch of good road with not much of traffic. That somehow triggers them to show off their speeding capabilities. And they naturally miss out the continuous warning signs placed on the road. The warning signs basically ask the motorists not to speed and also warn them about the presence of trees.

But once you are into speeding, you don't care about the signs. How can you care when you don't read them right? And adding to the thrill is the presence of a pretty good curve on the road near the Scout Camp. And the issue comes up right there.

Once you round the curve, the experienced (those who use that road regularly) motorists tend to keep to the middle of the road, because there are 2 big trees that are away from the “platform” and pretty much on the road. One of them in fact has a 2 feet gap between the platform and its trunk.

I have often seen the inexperienced drivers try to overtake other vehicles on the curve, from the left. They invariably head straight into the tree and then swerve right, into the regular lane to avoid it. This obviously causes trouble to the vehicle that is already there to the right.

Now coming back to this case, Pavit Singh is reported to have been driving a car with at least 4 others in his car. Some reports in fact suggest that there were 6. I heard from my friend that he was driving a new Maruti Ritz (he saw the damaged car near the Besant Nagar Police Station). And most of the passengers in the car were girls. And the average age of everyone in the car was 21 or 22. The accident took place late on Sunday night, because the reports appeared only on Tuesday in the local newspapers.

To me, that clearly says that the driver wouldn’t have been driving in a disciplined state, because, as a long term resident of the area (his house was in Indra Nagar and did his schooling in Adyar), he would be well aware of the tree. I am not alluding that he was under the influence of alcohol, but going by the other data available, I am willing to conclude that he was just showing off his driving skills to his buddies.

The tree just didn’t spring up when he took the curve. So don't blame the tree as being the cause of the accident. He wasn’t wearing a seat-belt and yes, that would have ensured the fatality. But, why wasn’t he wearing one? Do you know that Seat-belts are mandatory for the front occupants of the car and this is a rule ratified by the Supreme Court more than 10 years ago? So, why weren’t the Police booking people for not wearing their seat-belt?

And now everyone’s launching a campaign for educating people about wearing seat-belt. Why educate I ask? Just enforce the law!

I said earlier that this is not a eulogy for Pavit Singh. But after reading this rant, you may well think that this is a tirade against him. No, that is not my intent either. I have used this case of Pavit Singh, though it can very well be applied in toto to countless Amits, Rajendrans, Bashas and Daniels who drive badly.

My target audience for the rant is the Police who acted swiftly in ensuring that the trees in contention were cut off. If at all they were so concerned all these years, why did they not cut the tree earlier? If there were cases stopping them from cutting it, have they acted in contempt of court now? If there were protests to protect the trees, why didn’t they increase the patrolling on that stretch? Why didn’t they ensure that there was no speeding on that road? Why didn’t they put up speed-breakers on either side of the curve on both lanes? And why didn’t they put additional speed-breakers in the middle of that curve? Did they simply decide that the trees had to go and were waiting for a fatal accident to happen?

I will tell you this. Now that the trees are not there, more moronic motorists are going to be speeding up faster on that stretch. Mark my words, the next fatal accident is only around the corner – pun unintended.

P.S: You can read about the accident and the follow-up actions in these websites.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/04/stories/2010050460460300.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Dont-miss-the-tree-for-the-road/articleshow/5887902.cms

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=2&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOICH&mydateHid=04-05-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=2&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOICH&mydateHid=05-05-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Victims-kin-plan-road-safety-drive/articleshow/5904939.cms

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pavit-Singh-SeatBelt-Campaign/119780684713527

Sold our Maruti 800 today

The first car we bought, in December 1999, was a Cyprus Blue coloured Maruti 800 DX. After clocking a fabulous 36K Kms over the last 9 years and 9 months, this car was finally sold today.

I have actually been trying to sell off this car for almost 2 years. I came quite close to closing out the sale with a dealer, when I was desperately hunting for a new Swift in late 2008. But something came up then and I had to back out of the deal.

I wanted to sell the car only because of the erosion that it was undergoing due to being exposed to the air in Besant Nagar. The car started picking up rust at amazing speeds and I didn't want it to turn into a pile of dust one fine day.

Also, the rust had started creeping into the engine bay as well and clearly, a big expense would be lining up in a year or two.

My parents also finally accepted the fact that the time had certainly come for the car to be sold. However, they came to the decision because, our part-time driver himself started seconding my opinion. Until that point in time, my views were being dismissed as being frivolous, high-handed and as being an opinion of a person who has no brains or even heart!

Though this guy did help my agenda, the sad part is that I would still not be ready to hand over my Baleno to him! And one of the main reasons I didn't buy a new Swift is also because of the fact that I might have to hand over the reins (so to say) to him.

Don't get me wrong. He is not a rash driver or a bad one or anything like that. Just that I somehow don't like the idea of giving him a big car or a new one to him. Some kind of prejudice I guess, like the many that people claim I have!

Anyway, long-story-short, this driver helped bring a buyer who is a mechanic and also deals in buying and selling of used cars. We have given it off to him for 65K which is about par on the market rate. Now that I have mentioned the amount, I have to prepare myself to hear word like "oh that is too less" or "if only u told me that u were going to sell it, I'd have gotten more" etc etc. Whatever be the case, the deal is done and there is no looking back!

My mother told me that she gave a personal farewell to her குழந்தை in the morning before we all got up. That sentimental value cannot be replaced by any number of cars that I buy henceforth. And it is the same sentimental value that Mr. Raghu is trying to play on right now, by saying that I could have spent some extra money and made it look as good as new!

My car now runs on Nitrogen

Strictly speaking, the car still runs on petrol. But on Saturday evening, I had the tires filled with Nitrogen gas instead of the traditional air that is normally used to fill the tires of automobiles.

Raghu has been recommending that I fill in Nitrogen in my car tires, for the past year or even more. And finally on Saturday, I decided to really go for it. I had this switch over done at the Woodlands Petrol Bunk in Radha Krishnan Salai. The facility is provided using TVS equipments.

Actually, I also decided to get an Aux cable to connect my phone to the Car Stereo. However, the guys at that shop were not too keen to take up the work at 4 PM and so, for now it looks like I will visit them next Saturday and get the needful done.

The benefits of filling Nitrogen are aplenty. A simple search on google would help you. Anyways, if you want my feedback on this, you would have to wait for another 3-4 months when it is supposedly time to refill it.

Monumental bulbs

On the day that India was celebrating the birthday of M.K.Gandhi, Mrs. and Mr.Raghu and self, decided to go out on a long drive along the ECR. Our dear friend Nilu, however, couldn’t make it due to “prior commitments”. We weren’t really clear about where to go, but we were clear that the main intent was to spend time out of the house and not inside a mall/movie hall.

In October 2007, while returning from Vaitheeswaran Kovil by car, I had noticed a board near Kalpakkam that talked about the presence of a Dutch Fort. Since I have a mild attraction to archaeological monuments, I have been thinking about visiting this place ever since.

So I broached this venue to Raghu and he accepted it with no qualms. After working out the logistics, we decided to head out by 2.30 PM and believe it or not, we actually left by 2.50!

After we started from home, we first headed out to my usual petrol bunk at Adyar to fill in fuel. In what turned out to be a harbinger for the rest of the day, the bunk was closed. We moved on to another bunk nearby, filled up the fuel and proceeded with the trip.

We had a pretty decent drive, notwithstanding the efforts of an SUV to run over us a few kilometers after Mahabs. We finally reached Kalpakkam. But there was no sign of the board that I saw last year. We stopped over at a couple of places to enquire about the fort. And no one actually knew about it. Finally there was a cop buying some stuff at a shop and I approached him. He finally understood what I was looking for and gave me the directions to the “koattai saar. British kaaran kaalathula kattinadhu”. He obviously lived with the maxim that all Caucasians are British theory and I had no patience to try and correct him.

We followed his directions and after passing through the Kalpakkam Township, we finally spotted a rather small board that said “Dutch Fort and Cemetery” and had an arrow pointing to the left. We looked to the left and lo behold, there was this long wall which had shed its plastering and was proudly exposing its bricks. We turned left and took the road alongside this wall, only to find a longer wall exhibiting a similar constitution. We then reached the entrance.

After having reached the entrance, we were worried if there was some other way to go inside the Fort. The reason was the presence of a tall iron gate that was locked. There was a small gap in the fencing (by design) and there was something like a path that led to another of the walls I mentioned before. This wall however was different, because it had the semblance of a formal entrance in the form of a gate capped by a minar like structure and there were 2 canons on either side of this gate.

One thing that was glaringly visible was the ABSENCE of people. In a country that’s known for its density of population, it was scary to see nobody at a monument where some kind of history exists. There were no visitors. There were no officials. There were no sign boards other than the one at the main gate that said that this was a protected monument. The only way we knew that we were not trespassing into someone’s private property was the assurance from a local woman who looked like the caretaker of the place.

Even as we stepped inside these walls, I was still alive to the possibility of seeing some relics. Some more cannons. Probably a spot where some major fight took place. The place where they stored their ammunition. The place where chief’s office was. The place where they had their flag post. And all of this explained with lot of signboards.

But all I could see inside was a big piece of land with growth of wild grass and a few trees in the middle. There was this muddy path which was headed towards a few structures which were in a dilapidated condition. You just cannot say what these structures were meant for, by looking at it.



The caretaker lady pointed us to an area which was basically the Cemetery mentioned in the board we had seen 10 minutes ago. We went inside and came out in, probably, 39 seconds. Then, we headed inside the grounds I mentioned earlier. We went inside one of these structures and found them to be just rooms; rooms with windows and arched ceilings. The area we went to appeared to have walls that were plastered with modern day cement. Obviously some amount of restoration has happened, but then, the charm of the old building was lost. There were more ruins of course, but we were in a deep state of bulb to try and venture there.

We took the mandatory pictures of our presence in that place and made a hurried exit. The visit to this Fort would probably rank in the top 10 bulbs I’ve had in terms of expecting great things and getting sheer nonsense. In fact, it is high time the authorities call it the “Dutch Cemetery and an extended ruined compound wall around it”.

And thinking about the Fort now, it is clear why the Dutch never ruled us. Going by the reports in the article related to the excavations done here, this Fort seemed to have been some sort of a glorified club/watering-hole for the expatriates of those times. In fact, the fight between the Dutch and the Brits must have come up due to suspected foul play during a Tiger-Goat-game! Or else, this Fort was just a warehouse for the Dutch traders to stock their goods. And probably they sabotaged their stock to take the insurance benefit. Unfortunately, they may have insured with some Brits who found out the truth and took over the Fort/Warehouse.

Anyways, after we came out, we decided to head to Mahabs with the knowledge and assurance of being able to see ancient architecture. We stopped over for a quick cup of coffee that extended itself into a plate of vegetable bonda. We set out to the Shore Temple.

Unfortunately, that day turned out to be “Kaanum Eid” – at least that’s what I am calling it since I don’t know the technical details for that festival. You see, we Hindus in Tamil Nadu have this event called “Kaanum Pongal”. This is the day after all other Pongal days and families make it a point to visit important tourist spots. I called this Gandhi Jayanthi day as “Kaanum Eid” because there was a lot of crowd around the Shore Temple and most of these were Muslims. Since the previous day was Eid, I created this event called “Kaanum Eid” to equate my Muslim brethren with the Hindus.

Anyways, by the time we reached the Shore Temple, the authorities refused entry since the stipulated visiting hours were getting over in 5 minutes. We then braved the crowd and headed to the beach just for the heck of it. We spent some time in the Mahabs Promenade (c’mon there were merry-go-rounds, bonsai giant-wheels, air-rifles to shoot balloons, lot of small shops selling souvenirs and hell even an apology of a LifeGuard’s outpost) and after Mrs. and Mr.Raghucompleted their souvenir purchases, we walked back to our car.

Even as I was driving the car back home, I got a call from my team-member at onsite about a serious problem that had come up. Raghu being the great guy he is, he quickly took over the steering wheel and drove us back, while I chalked out some plan with my team-member.

The only good part of the day came after we reached home. We had decided to have dinner at Eden and as is always the case with them, we were not disappointed. The really good dinner helped round off what was otherwise a day filled with one bulb after another.

Note: The Dutch Fort and Cemetery is listed at # 66 in ASI’s list of monuments in Tamil Nadu.

Counter productive ABS

I have an off-campus fresher recruitment drive in a short while from now. Since it is being held in the office closer to my home, I was driving along the ECR an hour ago.

Suddenly, near the "Fruit Shop" and "Dollar Store" area, a big cow started running on my side of the road. The Bolero in front of me was having a tough time in deciding whether to stop or swerve left and finally came to a halt. I too was observing the theatrics of the jumping cow and since the Bolero had come to a halt, I had to go a bit to my left to avoid hitting the van.

Just as I moved to the left side of the road, the cow fell on the road, some 15 feet in front of me. So I braked hard to avoid hitting the cow. Of course, by then I was moving at barely 10 Kph, so it wasn't a difficult task.

There was apparently a Safari also following me and when I braked, he rear-ended me. I was looking in my rear view mirror to see what hit me and saw the Safari. By then, the road users had started honking like mad wanting us to clear the road. I looked at the road ahead and didn't find the cow, only God knows where it went.

I started the car, lowered the window and pointed to the Safari guy to pull over along with me. He duly complied with my request. I got out of the car and inspected the rear of my Baleno. Thankfully, there was practically no damage. Probably the bumper had moved a little bit, but actually it isn't even worth mentioning.

The Safari was an AP registration and was filled with a very big family. By the time the driver (and I presume him to be the owner of the car) got down, I signalled to him that everything was fine and went back to my seat. He waved back to me apologetically.

Just as I started resuming my drive, he pulled up next to me and so I just waved to him once again that all's well. But he insisted that I pull down the window. I did and he too had pulled down his window. He then started telling me that since his car had ABS, he couldn't stop immediately and signalled a sorry once more. I waved back to him with a smile and we both went our separate ways.

But his statement got me thinking. To the best of my knowledge and as confirmed by Raghu, ABS is not going to impact how you brake under normal conditions like what happened this morning. In fact, according to this article stopping distances should only decrease. I only hope that he never has to make that statement under more serious circumstances and that too to a knowledgeable person.

But anyways, since there was no damage and since we weren't in an altercation, I decided to ignore the statement made by Mr.Manavaadu.

Now I am in my office, waiting for the interviews to begin!!!

Road Trip to Vaitheeswaran Kovil - Part 1 ::: Start of trip

The day was 13th October 2007. The sun began its journey around the earth (lets ignore Galileo for the sake of a dramatic beginning) assuming that it was seeing the same usual sights.

Not so my dear friends. Adithya was in for a mild shock, since he would have seen the Pattamadais in Besant Nagar begin their first road trip in India.

Without any more beating around the bush, I'll get to the details.

We originally planned to leave the house by 6.45 AM. We did make an earnest attempt, but the car officially left the house only around 7.30 AM. Just before we locked up our main door, I asked my father to get a couple of rusks, just in case Jimmy showed up when we started. I am not bringing in this rusk just to prove a point that I feed the hero of my street. Its just a point to be noted for future reference in this travelogue.

I somehow managed to get a few bhakthi paattu CDs. But these were never used, since my parents believe strongly that listening to music distracts the driver totally.

I started off with nearly a quarter tank of petrol. Raghu had mentioned the previous night that the price of petrol in Pondicherry (which was en route) was quite less and so advised me to fill up my tank there.

Some 30 minutes after we started, we were motoring along the ECR at a fair speed. Of course, I had to be on my best behavior in terms of my driving, since its taken me around 5 years to convince my parents to come with me on a long drive. So, I never really crossed the 80 Kmph mark, didn't overtake a vehicle unless it was clear that not even a leaf was moving on the other side of the road for the next 500 metres, didn't honk too often, didn't mutter under my breath (swearing was obviously ruled out) etc.

Anyways, we planned to have our breakfast somewhere along the route. While we were near Mahabalipuram, we started looking out for decent eateries. There were quite a few that had put up hoardings on the roads but none of them proclaimed themselves to be 100% vegetarian. So we continued to look for one such joint.

I did spot some signs for a motel that was 100% veg. When I mentioned that to my parents, somehow they started scanning the left side of the road and didn't find anything. The motel was on the right hand side and while crossing it, I told them "dho inga irukku". For what I thought was a vague reason, they continued to look for something on the left side of the road. When I told them that it was on the right hand side and that I had crossed it, I was asked to drive along and stop at the next joint that was on the left side of the road itself.

Kapish? The basic idea was that I was supposed to stick to the same side of the road and not make a turn cutting across traffic flowing in the opposite direction, never mind even if there was no traffic. Yes, that was the reason.

So, I had no choice but to motor along hoping to find the next decent place to eat. It will surprise you no end that it took me another 100 odd Kms to find such a place. More about that in Part 2.

My first road trip in India

I had my first road trip in India, over the last weekend - 13th and 14th of October.

Since it is a major milestone in my life, I am going to bore you with the travelogue of those 2 days.

Brace yourself....

Nearly became an article in tomorrow's newspaper

I had yet another long night at work on Friday. I had some calls and some work as well, till around 4 AM. I didn't want to drive back at that hour and so decided to spend some more time at the desk itself, so that I could leave around 5.30.

I somehow managed to doze off for 30 minutes in the meantime and managed to leave the office some 5-10 minutes before 6 AM. I was actually quite fresh by then and so had no issues while driving home.

However, I started getting sleepy when I neared Adyar. That's when I made my mistake. Whenever I drive at such odd hours, I usually chew some gum or the other just to ensure that my eyes don't doze off.

This morning however, I felt a bit of acidity and so decided not to chew gum. And since I was in Adyar, I told myself that it was only a short distance and ignored chewing gum.

I drove along Besant Avenue and was near the curve in front of the Scout camp. Frequent users of the road would remember the presence of a speed-breaker at the start of the curve.

I distinctly remember going over the speed-breaker on the fourth gear itself. I was doing like a rolling-stop - reduced speed but on the same gear. That's when I kinda passed out I think!

Next thing I saw was that I was actually rounding off the curve and there was a middle-aged couple walking on the road. If the car had continued along its line, I would have surely hit the lady at some 30 Kmph. I got a real rude wake-up call and reacted quickly, applied the brakes and swerved the car away from the lady.

But since it was a curve and since it was sandy in that area and since I was at a reasonable speed, there was quite a bit of screeching noise. Next thing I recollect, I was having thoughts that I had skidded and was having a tail spin.

But somehow I managed to control the car and bring it back on track and proceeded. There was an auto guy in front of me and he moved quite a distance to his left and let me pass him. While I was passing him, I looked at him and he was giving me a weird look that said "kaalang kaaarthala vandhuttaan paaru saavu giraakki".

All this happened in a matter of less than 5 seconds, ok. And to be specific, the time that I must have dozed off would have been around 2 seconds. In fact most of the events are quite blurry to me, even now. I distinctly remember a violet colored sari clad lady directly on the path of my car, screeching noises and an angry stare.

After I reached home around 7 AM, I initially decided to freshen up, have my coffee and some biscuits. Then the plan was to call up some of my team members to find out if anyone could come to work later in the day. I thought of calling them around 8.

I went up to my room to get out of the clothes that I'd been wearing for the last 24 hours. I saw my bed and literally fell on it. I hadn't even switched on the fan and was lying diagonally across the bed. Since its only a single bed, my head was sorta on the edge and one leg was actually resting on the floor. Yet, I fell asleep.

I have vague recollection of my parents coming in to check on me frequently. I got up at 10, because I had to make the calls to the people. I dragged myself out of bed and by 11, I had consumed coffee and few biscuits and had some energy to call up people and earn their wrath for asking them to come over the weekend.

I had a relaxed lunch and then dozed off on my sofa for some 45 minutes before a series of phone calls woke me up. I came to the office (the one closer home) around 4.30 PM. Am still here (9 PM) and I think a long night lies ahead of me tonight as well.

But I am barely able to keep my eyes open. I think I will try to leave home by midnight and hope to sleep the Sunday off!

All in all, I think its only some left over karma from my previous incarnations and more importantly, those of my parents, that saved me from running over that lady or getting into an accident or in other words - it saved me from being mentioned in the daily vernaculars.

From a jet to an ATR

My Baleno's battery conked off on Friday and I had to drive to office in my 800.
I have seen 800s whiz past me while driving on GST road. Obviously I am not a fast and furious kinda driver (furious maybe, but not really fast) and my 800 has not really gone very long distances at a stretch - probably a 25 km distance would be its longest.

So clearly, having to chug along on an empty GST road at a speed of 70 Kmph, after being used to doing high-80s to 90s on my Baleno, made me relate to all those Deccan Air pilots who do this short segment flights on the ubiquitous ATR planes. Think about it. They would have been flying boeings and airbuses in Indian Airlines and then they get lured to Deccan with higher pay and what not. But they end up chauffeuring an ATR!

A classic case of "eppadi irundha naan, ippadi aayittaen".

Uncensored driving pleasure

The shutting down of our car pool looks very imminent, since one member has gone to Canada for a 2 month official trip and another has put in her papers. This has effectively left Raj and myself as the only assured travellers.

But this week, one other colleague of ours, Raghavan, has joined us. He had a nasty accident recently and returned to work this week, after around a month's leave.

Anyways, to cut a long story short, our car pool this week has been an all-men affair. And we could maintain our decency only for so long. Like just 2 days. Last evening, our conversation somehow veered itself into the swear words territory.

We were exchanging notes about how people from different parts of out state prefer to use one particular swear word over another. Turns out, the same body part is referred to with different names (k and p) and prefixes (m and p), based on where you grew up learning it.

I also told them about my great story about how I mis-pronounced a scooterette manufactured a long time back by Bajaj. Naturally, it had both Raj and Raghavan in splits. In fact, another friend of Raj, joined us in the car today and he too was given the update. Obviously, it impressed him quite a bit!

All in all, just to be able to travel in the car and use real swear words instead of the dignified "idiot" or "paithiyakaaran" or "porambokku" or even "naai", has given me more pleasure during the drive.

But like they say, all good things must end and as per the current projections for July, we are all going to return to the company bus.

Car Pooling

3 of my friends at work and myself, have now started car pooling.

As most of you would have experienced, Mr.Aditya is doing "Over Time" in Chennai (and from news reports, in many other parts of the state as well). He has been at it from March/April itself. We have been suffering for quite some time in the bus.

One of my friends, Raj, was especially adamant about not travelling by the bus any more. He found an ally instantly in me. We then started hunting for other like minded people and got hold of Raji and Sudha. Luckily, Raj and I live close-by and Raji stays in Indira Nagar. Sudha stays in Velachery, but she was ok with boarding the car near Guindy. The only problem is that, only Raj and I can drive. The other 2 have cars, but the driving duty is taken care by their better-half.

Since this car pooling thingy involves financial implications on all of us, we had to first arrive at a proper estimate of the cost. Raj and I worked out the fuel efficiency of our cars and included a small maintenance fee.

I created a detailed trip sheet in Excel. I used this opportunity to upgrade my excel knowledge and came out with a whole lot of 'if-else' conditions. The excel sheet has received great feedback in my friends' circle at work. :D :D :D

Anyways, we have been Car Pooling from the start of May. The plan as of now is to continue till the end of June at the minimum. But in case I move to my new house, the plan would have to be revisited.

Going by car has given me a new lease of life. I feel fresh when entering office and even when I return home. In spite of the bad traffic sense that 99% of the road users possess, I still find so much peace in driving that I am ok with all that.

But I have a tough week ahead. Raj is on Bangalore the whole week, which means I have to drive on all 5 days. Yet, I actually look forward to it.

Capital Punishment can be replaced with this option

If you belong to the group of people who want to eliminate Capital Punishment (personally, I am in favour of it), I think you have a very good alternative on hand.

While you oppose CP claiming that by killing someone the system is no different from the offender, the system has no other option of educating the people about the pitfalls of committing heinous crimes.

So, to you, I offer a solution. Perhaps you can advertise this during all your protests and you might actually have some takers.

My solution - The offender must be asked to drive a car in T.Nagar, specifically the area of Usman Road, Dhandapani Street and the connecting streets. Of course, the car given to the offender must be like the ones used in driving schools - with control pedals on the passenger side as well, just so that the offender doesn't indulge in any "Carmageddon" activities.

I had quite a tough time in that area this evening. I am 110% sure that I spent at least 2 litres of petrol this evening, while covering a distance of say 2-3 kms. I had to go around the streets and the main road due to lack of parking space. I had to encounter auto rickshaws coming menacingly towards me in a one-way street - and point to be noted, I was travelling in the correct direction. I withstood verbal attacks like "poyiginaay iru", "po po" and "varalaam vaa", not to mention the assortment of glares, stares and apologetic looks and the quintessential showing of palm while crossing the road.

So, it was quite an excruciating evening for me. And if the hole in the ozone has increased today, I am definitely accountable for a small portion of it!

Cars - the movie

Saw Cars today. And as usual, it was preceded by some brilliant decision making within our group. We wanted to see it in Sathyam complex, after the bulb we got at Mayajaal on Sunday. So when I checked their website last night, they disclosed that the 2 rows in front of the screen were only available. We then took a decision at 12.05 AM that we will go to Mayajaal earlier and get the tickets there.

Surprisingly, we did reach there earlier than we normally do and got tickets. BUT, the seats were in the 3rd row from the screen. So, technically, we did get better seats than at Sathyam. :)

Coming to the movie - It was absolutely fantabulousticly awesome. Pixar has done an amazing job yet again. The animation is so good in some places that it almost looks like shots taken with a regular movie camera. The storyline was simple. The animation was mind-boggling. The dialogues were crisp. Very witty. I was laughing throughout the movie to the point of crying. And the folks who have lent their voice - great job by them too.

All in all, a really really cool movie. I think I might place it in the top 5 movies I like.