Mundane Musings

Pic Courtesy: Telegraph India. Almost dry Chembarabakkam lake Water, water where have you gone? We search for you in deep wells and dried up lakes. Through hard, unyielding sand and tough rocks, Our searching pumps come up coughing dusty air. Water, water where have you gone? We see you tumbling against our coastline In a joyful profusion of frothy waves and forgotten litter, But not a drop can we drink, thanks to your salty disposition. Water, water where have you gone? Leaving us sinners bemoaning our fates Our thrones are wobbly without you to flush The refuse begotten by excessive tastes. It is now a luxury to wash our sorry asses. Water, water where have you gone? Our lakes are dry, the birds long gone, All that is left are buildings and houses standing tall. Drink that you fools, see how it quenches your thirst, This edifice you have built out of brick and stone. Is it too late to change ourselves? To look beyond our selfish gains? To spare a though...

After two weeks of melting our hearts with their sweet mannerisms and angrezi accent, my niece and nephew have left for Dubai to stay with their mother's set of parents. The two weeks they had stayed here have flown by like a breath of fresh air and the saying that time flies when you are happy could never have been truer. This visit of the brother and his family was more special as this had been their first that Anakutti would remember. She interacted actively with her cousins from London instead of watching them with curious eyes and garbled words as she had done two years ago. I was excited by their visit for the sake of the kids...my kid specifically, who craves company of people her age. So these two weeks have gone in managing pick ups and drops between mum's place and ours and organizing lunches and dinners for the family as a whole. I don't think I have eaten out as much as this in a long while. I wanted to expose the children to a bit of Indian food during th...

I recently had a chance to visit Sowcarpet....that mythical, elusive center of trade where a simple understanding of streets and lanes can separate the newbies from the veterans. Since I have never once proclaimed my understanding of anything the opposite of lateral like navigating tiny lanes and crammed shops selling any which thing under the sun and you would know which category I fall into. So it was with delicious glee that I agreed to go along with a neighbour whose children and Ana kutti are of the same age, are friends and go to the same school. One Wednesday afternoon she proposed that we go to Sowcarpet to help choose a pair of good bicycles for her twins whose birthday was coming up at the end of last month. I jumped up to the suggestion and on a dusty, hot afternoon, we left our kids sleeping in their respective homes and took an auto (because a taxi is way impractical) to Sowcarpet. It was just as I remembered from one earlier visit - un-navigable by a four wheeler or ev...

Stealthily at first and then brazenly, His warm presence unavoidable as palpable as the translucent beads of moisture that dot my cupid's bow. Many moments are unwelcome Like when hot sticky sweat Coaxed out of my flaccid body trickles down at a fervent pace Over mounds of flesh that is a testament of fatty repasts of cooler times. Every action and reaction is an effort tinged with a lethargy that is synonymous to his genial counterpart. Oh how I miss winter. Summer is here and my body feels it first The sweat and the grime and the heat are a fixture Brows furrow, eyes crinkle, parched is No wore a word in the dictionary Clothes come off, with nary a sensual suggestion, Any hints at intimacy vehemently shrugged off One's own body seeming a burden to bear It doesn't get more grounded or real than this. Blinking at the harsh eye crinkling rays I look down at the verdant tapestry of my tiny garden Nodding and swaying to the summer breeze Lea...

S and I, who have had helped improve business of many establishments during our dating days, are finding it very difficult to ease into the dining scene after the brief hiatus brought in by our little Anakutti. Eating out has yielded pretty unsatisfactory results with very few restaurants deeming a second visit. I can't help but wonder if it has become the norm for restaurants to dish out mediocre stuff and make the diner feel privileged to part with his hard earned money that may have not been worth the dining experience. Take the case of Double Roti in Anna Nagar East. This restaurant chain has been touted as the best sandwich/burger joint to have happened to Chennaiites and we were expected to feel happy that they had graced us with their presence. (Oh how I miss good ol Mash, this side of town).This Delhi based restaurant has earned rave reviews on Zomato, which is soon proving to be a not so trustworthy review site for a 40 year old foodie. People have been raving abou...

The new cafe on the block (Anna Nagar East), Tea Trails is un-apologetically tea-centric. I don't think I have come across a menu book just for tea in a long while. Though it is a boon to tea drinkers, this may put off quite a few of the non-tea drinkers or the non-tea aficionados, but only until they come to the 'chai' page. What a selection! Rubbing shoulders with the delicate green teas and black tea choices was this intriguing list of milky tea (chai). I don't enjoy tea if it doesn't have proper milk and masala in it, as I can't for the life of me deduce the delicate differences in the aroma/ flavour of these brewed beverages. And since I can make a mean chai myself, I make do with the various hot and cold coffee options offered across cafes in the city. There are very few joints however that do serve the obsequious milk tea with masala, but that is about the one option. Here, there is a whole page dedicated to 'chai' - a whole page. There is adhra...

Ana Kutti was two last month and she started pre-school this month. After repeatedly telling ourselves that schooling for Ana kutti needn’t start until she was three and a half, we surprised ourselves by going on and doing just the opposite. The months precluding this event of enrolling her to a school was fraught with no less tension and decision making. Why would a relatively smart, outgoing girl like her who had quite a repertoire of nursery rhymes, phrases and concepts under her belt need to get to school so soon? Definitely not because we wanted her out of our hair for a few hours a day. Nope. We just couldn’t have enough of her. Yeah I know I do sound like one of those sappy mothers but that is what late motherhood would do to you. J . One relative comfort I had from the whole exercise was the realization that I was still a lot better than those parents who had enrolled their kids in a most happening school in Chennai when the said child was still a tiny zygote in the...

This sultry, humid, melting people’s resolve heat of April has made me yearn for the month that has passed us by. It was the last of our cool, dry weather with the evenings bringing with it pleasant winds from the Bay of Bengal (thank god for that water body) chasing away the truant temperatures and letting us still walk around with a modicum of decorum. Case in point the below picture. My filled to bursting social calendar of March was another reason why the month was memorable. Let me see, since I have had Ana Kutti a typical social month would be hanging out with close knit friends for starters and biriyani washed down with shandys or beer or plain water with the conversation flowing freely to distract from other realities (running behind the said child/children with their dinner, trying to stop them from scribbling or destroying a toy, managing their sleep times...ho hum You get the drift). It was all fun in a way only people who have friends with whom they can let the...

Did the chicken come first or the egg? Similar existential questions were asked in our Food Service Management class back in college. Will you patronize a restaurant regularly , because the food is good or because the service is good? There was always a possibility of a good debate when this question was thrown to us. Since we were in college and since budgets were virtually non-existent, our arguments had to be largely based on our experience of the college canteen food or of one of the affordable eateries dotting the road. It’s anyone’s guess that these places are notorious for repeat visits mainly due to lack of other options better suited to the pocket and…let’s face it… the rather unique experience. In other words, the ambiance and the ‘superlative’ service we were accorded.   I can’t forget the number of times we have sat in the sweltering heat of our college canteen, sharing one Pepsi and soggy bhelpuri among half a dozen of us. Our taste buds had not yet progressed fr...

Last week I got caught in the mother of all jams. In all my life of riding my bike I am yet to have come across one that physically sapped me like the one I endured that day, on my way to office. I can safely say that the speedometer refused to climb above 10km/hr for a stretch of 6 kms. As I sat on my bike, fuming and mentally cursing no body in particular, I thought about ways to keep myself occupied. If it was another lucky day I’d have had my mp3 plugged to my ears rendering soulful songs. But alas! When this super infuriating jam was to take place how in the world could fate have rewarded me with a comfortable portal that’d transport me to another blissful world? So I sat on my bike, studiously avoiding glances of curious fellow travelers who seem to think the best way to beat the jam is to look at what people were doing while waiting out the clearance of congestion. So I decided to watch the vehicles instead. Lo and behold I saw an impressive dark blue Nissan Xtrail parked next...

"A 300 Rs ticket".. Oh yeah you would think it would be for any one of those myriad programmes we seem to be having in chennai.. like posters pasted on the roads tell us about the P Suseela and S Janaki concert, of course the Swingers or some other dance school advertising their dance performances or; the very recently held dance by a Bulgarian troupe which got some rave reviews.. but no, I didnt mean any of those... this I should say was a ticket to a dining experience in a prestigious hotel in Chennai. My dad being a share holder got some coupons which could be used in this particular hotel. As is the case with any coupon, we read thoroughly what is written in it for fear of missing some hidden clause which could lead to a nasty eating experience... you dont need me to tell you that right? So I very methodically went through the coupon and then told my friends S and P about it. They shared my enthusiasm.. no doubt due to the coupons belonging to the hotel in question. On ...