After a few busy months of hectic travel and work, spending a relaxing evening reading some Telugu novels and listening to some old melodies...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11yh-UCeev4
And catching up on the blog posts.
June 10, 2018
Chennai - The unchanging city
What changed in Chennai in the 60 years I knew the city.
Much and not so much really.
I.The Railway Stations
1. The Central--Madras central railway station looks the same--a few cosmetic changes like chairs in the waiting hall, a new waiting hall at the side and a new A/c waiting room and dormitory hardly mark a make over. Same platforms, same stalls, same food and same dirt and same jostling crowds. Luggage on the platforms, waiting to be loaded into the parcel vans and coming in the way of passengers, puddles of water from (?fish) from some parcels, bad smells, food smells, filter coffee smells and a mix of languages make up a typical day on the platforms. Polite crowds, passengers gossiping with total strangers exchanging stories of their life and asking about the others' lives are my favorite people. It holds up the mirror of life to you and lets you get an insight into life as such.
2.Egmore - My interaction with Egmore was very little. There was a train service to Pondicherry. It used to start from Egmore at 10.00pm after all the important trains going south left. It used to reach Pondy by next morning - 6 to 8 am. When you can travel in 4 hrs (those days-now it is 2 1/2 hrs), why travel 8 to 10 hrs? The languages heard were either Tamil or Malayalam.
2. The Bus stands--
The Pallavan Express Bus stand at Parry's corner, next to the high court complex has now been shifted out and since it is nearly 15 years since I traveled by a bus, I do not know what the new one looks like. In my day, I used to take a rickshaw to the bus stand from Central. It was at the end of the block from Law college entrance on Broadway. We had to get a token at the ticket booth and when the bus comes in, you embark as per your token no. No pushing, jostling or reserving a seat by throwing a hanky through a window. All very peaceful and slow as the frequency was not great. But the roads were good and the travel was comfortable. ( Mullapudi's joke-"you know that you have entered AP from Madras when you feel the first bump.")
Next alternative, the moffusil Bus stand a few yards down the road from Broadway signals towards the flower bazaar police station- Stalls on to the road, a narrow entrance and crowded place with buses going down south standing and loaders yelling "Pondy, Pondy" or "Cuddalore, Cuddalore".
All very hectic and buses with lots and lots of luggage on top-Keerai and miscellancy- standing waiting. I used to travel mostly by express buses as an express bus will take me by the JIPMER campus and I can get down there instead of going to Pondy bus stand. They used to go via Dindivanam(or Thindivanam)----Chennai--Chengalpattu--Mamandur-Maduranthakam-Thindivanam. I shall talk about it later. The moffusil buses used to ply the road along the coast via Marakkanam and go to Pondy directly. On return journeys, I had to go to Pondy as there may not be any vacant seats by the time the bus comes to JIPMER campus. Then the choice was any bus.
The rarely used bus stand (by me of course) was the Basin Bridge Bus Stand at the end of Wall Tax road. all the buses going to Andhra started from there, but my choice was the train. The Karuvadu stalls (dried salted fish) from near the Padmanabha theatre to the Basin Bridge were a source of nauseating stink which improved my breath holding capacity by 3 times.
Much and not so much really.
plus ça change,
plus
c'est la
même chose (Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr)-- Ha! my french showing through- It means "The more it changes, the more it is the same (thing)."
(as Pondicherry was an ex French Territory, The Govt. of India had promised to protect the french heritage and culture. So, a study of French was compulsory in all colleges in Pondy.. I scored 111/200 in the certificate course in French run by University of Madras.)I.The Railway Stations
1. The Central--Madras central railway station looks the same--a few cosmetic changes like chairs in the waiting hall, a new waiting hall at the side and a new A/c waiting room and dormitory hardly mark a make over. Same platforms, same stalls, same food and same dirt and same jostling crowds. Luggage on the platforms, waiting to be loaded into the parcel vans and coming in the way of passengers, puddles of water from (?fish) from some parcels, bad smells, food smells, filter coffee smells and a mix of languages make up a typical day on the platforms. Polite crowds, passengers gossiping with total strangers exchanging stories of their life and asking about the others' lives are my favorite people. It holds up the mirror of life to you and lets you get an insight into life as such.
2.Egmore - My interaction with Egmore was very little. There was a train service to Pondicherry. It used to start from Egmore at 10.00pm after all the important trains going south left. It used to reach Pondy by next morning - 6 to 8 am. When you can travel in 4 hrs (those days-now it is 2 1/2 hrs), why travel 8 to 10 hrs? The languages heard were either Tamil or Malayalam.
2. The Bus stands--
The Pallavan Express Bus stand at Parry's corner, next to the high court complex has now been shifted out and since it is nearly 15 years since I traveled by a bus, I do not know what the new one looks like. In my day, I used to take a rickshaw to the bus stand from Central. It was at the end of the block from Law college entrance on Broadway. We had to get a token at the ticket booth and when the bus comes in, you embark as per your token no. No pushing, jostling or reserving a seat by throwing a hanky through a window. All very peaceful and slow as the frequency was not great. But the roads were good and the travel was comfortable. ( Mullapudi's joke-"you know that you have entered AP from Madras when you feel the first bump.")
Next alternative, the moffusil Bus stand a few yards down the road from Broadway signals towards the flower bazaar police station- Stalls on to the road, a narrow entrance and crowded place with buses going down south standing and loaders yelling "Pondy, Pondy" or "Cuddalore, Cuddalore".
All very hectic and buses with lots and lots of luggage on top-Keerai and miscellancy- standing waiting. I used to travel mostly by express buses as an express bus will take me by the JIPMER campus and I can get down there instead of going to Pondy bus stand. They used to go via Dindivanam(or Thindivanam)----Chennai--Chengalpattu--Mamandur-Maduranthakam-Thindivanam. I shall talk about it later. The moffusil buses used to ply the road along the coast via Marakkanam and go to Pondy directly. On return journeys, I had to go to Pondy as there may not be any vacant seats by the time the bus comes to JIPMER campus. Then the choice was any bus.
The rarely used bus stand (by me of course) was the Basin Bridge Bus Stand at the end of Wall Tax road. all the buses going to Andhra started from there, but my choice was the train. The Karuvadu stalls (dried salted fish) from near the Padmanabha theatre to the Basin Bridge were a source of nauseating stink which improved my breath holding capacity by 3 times.
June 5, 2018
A Sunday morning walk
On Sunday, Sasi and I went for a walk at Valley School. This is a branch of the JK Foundation Rishi Valley school at Madanapalli. They have a large tract of shrub and bamboo forest land, with a brook running through it. We had an enjoyable 3 hours observing various kinds of flora and fauna. Among the finds of the day:
Birds:
Indian Gray Hornbill (a pair)
Coppersmith Barbet
White cheeked Barbet
Red whiskered Bulbul
Red vented Bulbul
White browed Bulbul
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Fan tailed Flycatcher
Indian Parakeet
Indian Robin (male)
White breasted Kingfisher
Greater Coucal
We also could hear several peacocks and a couple of babblers
Butterflies:
Indian Wanderer
Common Crow
Common Mormon
Common Rose
Yellow Orange Tip
Crimson Tip
Dark Blue Tiger
Bright Babul Blue
Pale Grass Blue
Common Emigrant
Plain Tiger
Other creatures (including from another Sunday at the same place):
Tortoise shell Beetle
Jewel Bug
Robber Fly
Several grasshoppers
Assassin bug
Several frogs
Stick insect
Several beetles
Ant Lion
It was an enjoyable morning.
Birds:
Indian Gray Hornbill (a pair)
Coppersmith Barbet
White cheeked Barbet
Red whiskered Bulbul
Red vented Bulbul
White browed Bulbul
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Fan tailed Flycatcher
Indian Parakeet
Indian Robin (male)
White breasted Kingfisher
Greater Coucal
We also could hear several peacocks and a couple of babblers
Butterflies:
Indian Wanderer
Common Crow
Common Mormon
Common Rose
Yellow Orange Tip
Crimson Tip
Dark Blue Tiger
Bright Babul Blue
Pale Grass Blue
Common Emigrant
Plain Tiger
Other creatures (including from another Sunday at the same place):
Tortoise shell Beetle
Jewel Bug
Robber Fly
Several grasshoppers
Assassin bug
Several frogs
Stick insect
Several beetles
Ant Lion
It was an enjoyable morning.
 |
| Stick insect |
 |
| Jewel bug |
 |
| Tortoise shell Beetle |
June 4, 2018
ICU Tales - 2
Arrogance,Domination
I observed a typical Hyderabadi Muslim family which seemed to be very affluent also.There were almost ten members eight elderly and a young couple.Patient was an oldman in a critical condition. They occupied the entire place on the right side.They adjusted the pedestal fan into their direction and turned the wall mounted fan to provide them comfort.Their daily routine was provided by the young couple with fiawless obedience like supplying coffee tea cakes cookies all in a time fitting pattern.Allthe other attendants were awe struck and impatient also. Then the sweeper came and admonished them for the garbage they had thrown and readjusted the fans.Sadly the patient died and they all disappeared from the scene.I still remember their costly mobiles and it was just like watching a Hindi serial on T.V.Their behaviour was very unbecoming and out of place.
Arrogance,Domination
I observed a typical Hyderabadi Muslim family which seemed to be very affluent also.There were almost ten members eight elderly and a young couple.Patient was an oldman in a critical condition. They occupied the entire place on the right side.They adjusted the pedestal fan into their direction and turned the wall mounted fan to provide them comfort.Their daily routine was provided by the young couple with fiawless obedience like supplying coffee tea cakes cookies all in a time fitting pattern.Allthe other attendants were awe struck and impatient also. Then the sweeper came and admonished them for the garbage they had thrown and readjusted the fans.Sadly the patient died and they all disappeared from the scene.I still remember their costly mobiles and it was just like watching a Hindi serial on T.V.Their behaviour was very unbecoming and out of place.
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