Off to Bhutan...

I am heading off to Bhutan via west Bengal for an adventure. I will update the blog as frequently as I can though I will be limited by available net access.

Looking forward to an awesome adventure.

Visit to Pulicat

I wanted to take my new Bajaj Avenger bike for a spin and decided to hit Pulicat (Pazhaverkadu in Tamil), a small fishing hamlet 50 kilometres from Chennai. Pulicat is about 25 kms from my native village on Minjur in north Chennai. It used to one of the greatest ports of trade five centuries ago with traders from all over settling here to set up a thriving textile industry. Then the Dutch come along and are helped by the local Muslim traders to set up a trading post. Dutch soon become the masters and build a fort at Pulicat, Masulipatnam, Karikal and Tranquebar. They also happen to be the ones who started the slave trade. With the weakening of the Dutch, the English rose to power after mighty wars and subsequent treaties, here and in Europe. This is history.

What remains now are a few crumbled remains of once glorious Dutch fort and cemetery. The town is now a small fishing hamlet with bustling seafood business. Off the map. This only serves to remind that nothing is permanent except change. A wealthy city of today can be nothing tomorrow. Conversely a God forsaken place can become the hub of wealth. Ok. My point is, tomorrow India can be a superpower.

Entrance to the Dutch cemetery. Note the skeletons guarding the entrance.





Inside the cemetery





The tombstones are embossed with details about the buried person, the year of death and more timestamps which I do not understand (It is written in Dutch). Most tombstones mention Palliacatta (Pulicat), Masulipatn (Masulipatnam), coromandel and Karikal. Some of the tombstones were large with a big and small stones probably for the man and his wife. The tombstones also have the coat of arms of the deceased.



After seeing the cemetery, I am amazed by the resolution of men and their obsession for glory and gold. The Europeans came to the East seeking their fortune - some got it and some perished in the process - in a remote corner of the world, forgotten in time.

Agriculture - backbone of India

It is rather ironic that the government and people alike are apathetic towards the one industry that feeds 1 billion (and increasing) Indians. This year, the monsoon failed and what remains is that around one third of the farmers in my village have refrained from growing paddy.

Drying paddy crop



My dad is among the handful of lucky ones, blessed by a borewell that delivers clean underground water. Without rain, the plants of the less fortunate ones are drying and dying.



Its time for people to pray - for rain.

Trainjacking in Chennai

Today, I was driving to the Vyasarpadi Regional Transport Office to register my new motorbike when I came across an interesting sight. I saw derailed compartments of a train and my dad pointed it out that it was from the freak accident last April. I read in the papers that some mysterious person hijacked a passenger train parked at the Chennai central railway station (suburban) and drove it with high speed out of the station and within 4 minutes, rammed it into a goods train that was parked. Four people were killed in the freak accident and eleven were injured. The authorities have launched an investigation to find 'Mr. X', who presumably knew how to drive locomotives and the reason for the lapse (how did Mr. X find the keys?).

The article can be found here

Interestingly the damaged compartments have been left beside the track (remembrance?) for posterity.

Deepavali fireworks in the Chennai skyline

I shot this video on Deepavali day, 17 October 2009 from the terrace of my 6 floor apartment complex. My apartment is probably one of the tallest buildings in north Chennai and the view was awesome. Fireworks were almost non-stop and one could see the whole sky lit and sounds heard without a break. And there I was resting at the top-most point, on top of the overhead water tank, comparing the fireworks I have seen in Dallas on Independence day to this.

The Independence day fireworks appear to me like a matchstick compared to the Deepavali wildfire here. Also fascinating was the fact that people have so much money to burn during the worst recession of the century.

Deepavali in Chennai

BREAKING NEWS: Chennai under attack

Starting yesterday afternoon, Chennai city was rocked by multiple explosions at various parts of the city. The news so far indicates that civilian casualties are nil. Chennaiites have claimed responsibility for this attack.




Hmmm...I came up with that bit...

As I am typing into my keyboard, I can hear the sounds of Deepavali. The festival of lights to celebrate the arrival of winter. The festival is celebrated during the Tamil month of Karthigai (Kar = dark) when the land is dark and cold. The light and festivities (= good food and company) bring the much needed light and warmth to the land. Kids and adults are busy bursting firecrackers and enjoying the festival. I woke up early at least according to my standards, and had a hot oil bath (no no...the kind where oil is applied on the body followed by bath in water). I have reserved the fireworks part for the afternoon. Yesterday night I took these pictures from my terrace. There was a brilliant display of fireworks on all directions.


I had a passing thought, comparison between US and here. Americans are paranoid about fireworks. One can only see them during Independence day and even then, people are forbidden from bursting crackers. Only the city council and designated members get to burst them in the supervision of multiple policemen and firefighters. Here even the little kid Suraj next door can burst the most sophisticated of fireworks with no supervision. Now isn't that freedom?

Entrepreneurship - what sets Indians apart...

In the three weeks that has elapsed since I came back to India, I have seen lots of changes in the last three years.

The good stuff is-
1. Increased consumerism - everybody owns a cell phone, people are spending a lot of money in clothes and food
2. Constructions - more roads, flyovers, buildings.

The bad stuff-
1. Traffic - driving at peak hours is suicidal. People have lost the road sense that they used to have. This might be because of increasing jobs, more people are commuting to work and roads are crowded.
2. Pollution - dust, dust everywhere. A drive outside and all the dust in Chennai is inside my body. Everyday when I return home and look at myself in the mirror, I look like a brownie.
3. Fast food junkie culture.










But despite all this, in the global arena, one thing that sets Indians apart from the Chinese is the entrepreneurial attitude.