Pondicherry Weekend

Had been to Pondicherry for the christmas weekend...One day visit from chennai was the single most factor that tilted our decision towards Pondi. Wanted to enjoy the ECR scenery, but unfortunately, our Van didn't have the permit to use the route, so had to take the NH45..The travel was smooth, went to our native village near tindivanam, enroute to Pondicherry..Around 12 of us were there. lots of fun. Chennai was at it's coolest best during that time, thought Pondicherry would also be cool, packed my boy in full sleeves, full pant..but sun was out in its full force and there was stuffy feeling all around.

First stop was at Auroville, a town by itself. In its own words - Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." So, the place was teaming with Foreigners and tourists from other states. The Mantrimandir is the center piece for meditation and it was a good 1 km walk so we decided to skip it. I don't fancy herbal products at exorbitant amt. Auroville has a well stocked shop that sells candles, t-shirts, kurthas, soaps, etc and are priced for NRIs and Foreigners. A small video presentation gave us an insight into what Auroville was all about.

It was lunch time and we went to Hotel Ram International - waiting period was a good half-an-hour. The food was good. Next was Aurobindo Ashram. I could see pious devotees all around. I liked the calm atmosphere. Thats it. Wonder, why they converted it into a tourist place..half the crowd didn't know what it was (Heard a man comment : I think, it is some foreign temple built here) Few steps ahead was the Manakula Vinayagar, contrary to the silence we saw earlier, the decibel levels here were high as in a typical south Indian temple...A small elephant was at the entrance and was doing brisk business.

Beach was our last stop. On the way to beach, we had some snacks at Le-Cafe opp to the French Consulate. The masala puri there is divine...try it. The buildings near the ashram were a scream, very majestic. Lovely architecture.

Beach is not like the ones we find in chennai, there is very little of the beach as such..there is small stretch of sand and then the rocks. We were there exactly on Tsunami anniversary.. a small group was seen saying a prayer to the loved ones. We left pondicherry at around 7 pm..reached chennai around 9.30 p.m

Well, Pondi is not a great place for family visit. I think, checking into a resort would have been a better choice. Pondicherry by itself is not alluring for a chennai-vasi..the beaches in chennai are far better than those in Pondicherry...Can be seen once, just for the heck of it.

KarishmaDress.com

I had always noticed Karishma - Exclusive dress material ads in newspapers, wanted to check it out for a long time..Good that they had a website - karishmadress.com. Well..the dresses are under the designer label, carry the 'exclusive' tag and therefore way above my budget. Salwar suits range anywhere between Rs.1375 - Rs.9295..Ok..Nice site..thanks..it saved a visit to the shop.

Tamil Padam Rocks

Its the biggest spoof film in tamil movies..Tamil Padam was already making waves in print ads. The trailer just sets the expectations roaring..and Oh..Maha Zeeya song rocks.
Eagerly awaiting the movie's release.

December Season

December season is something that is unique to chennai. Carnatic Music is in the air..and residing just behind Music Academy, there is no escaping the joyous spirit (and the traffic snarls!). Yet to see any live concert this year ;-(

Aruna Sairam is one of my favorites - You can enjoy the Marathi Abang here - Vrindavani. While flipping channels, Podhigai came up with something on the lines of Krishna Jayanthi celebrations with the audience mainly children dressed as krishna and Radha..And I saw Aruna Sairam delivering Vrindavani Venu..with such gusto that you wanted to dance to the mesmerizing tune. Njoy!

Shibu Soren - the new King

Just three years ago, Shibu Soren had the dubious distinction of being the first union minister to be convicted. Now, he rules the roost at Jharkhand. In the recent assembly elections, people have handed over a fractured mandate, which places Shibu Shoren in a comfortable position where his word is the command.

"I do not want to be kingmaker, I want to be king. It's not important now what Arjun Munda (of the BJP) and Babulal Marandi (of the JVM-P) are stating. Now everything depends on me," Soren told reporters in Bokaro - IBNLive..

- Vaazhga Jananayagham!

Kailash Parbhat @ Velachery

Kailash Parbhat is the latest food joint to set up shop in velachery. It operates out of Naihaa complex on 100 ft road, along with Noodle House and French Loaf. Around a month back my friend and I weren't impressed much with the first tryst. Wanted to play safe and ordered Kailash Parbhat special - it looked good with lots of yummy curd but it was too spicy for my taste, emptied almost two glasses of water before finishing off the dish. My friend had ordered corn basket and that was a joke with just a smattering of corn here and there.The place was also full of flies..did not suit the upmarket chain image they are part of. But it was a different experience the second time around. We had Samosa, Channa tikki, dahi papdi everything was damn good. Did I tell you.. the chaats.. all have a distinct flavour that is different from everything else in chennai (gangotri comes a distant second). The pricing is a tad expensive. A third visit would help me decide to give a thumbs up or down ;-))

Child's Mind

My friend's six year old son wanted to become a doctor. I kind of told him, you need to really slog, get amazing marks to become a doctor..The kid considered this fact and quipped " OK..let me not become the big doctor..Hmmm..may be I shall become a children's doctor" ;-)