The missing link in Ram-Sethu » chennai http://www.srajaram.com Rajaram Sethuraman's Home Page Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:58:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 My manifesto for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections http://www.srajaram.com/2011/03/my-manifesto-for-the-tamil-nadu-assembly-elections.html http://www.srajaram.com/2011/03/my-manifesto-for-the-tamil-nadu-assembly-elections.html#comments Fri, 25 Mar 2011 05:41:38 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=755 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> I have decided to contest the TN Assembly elections with an eye on the CM’s post considering that the present bunch of politicians are no good for the state and would be better off playing musical chair!

As is the tradition, i am publishing my party’s manifesto, catering to all sections of society. Incidentally, my party’s name is TLAOTWMK - Tamilians living all over the world Munnetra Kazhagam.

Section I: For the General Public

  • Increase the castes list from the current 1,56,724 covering 82 pages in the engg college admission form to 2,22,345 so that everyone can feel happy that they will qualify for some quota or the other.
  • Free 1 hour coaching class to all people to Tamil nadu. They will be taught to write their name in Tamil. That way, we can claim 100% literacy in Tamil Nadu.
  • Free 40 inch LCD TVs to everyone below the poverty line in TN. Note 1: These TVs are bigger and better than the ones offered by DMK/AIADMK. Note 2: A recent analysis clearly shows that a good TV is the first need of those below poverty line.
  • Launch of Rajaram TV, which will play Raghupathy Raghava Rajaram 24*7.
  • All buses will be renamed to the form RRXXX, which is definitely easier to rememberthan the current As,Bs,Js and so on.
  • A new bill in the assembly will be introduced which will make education upto 2nd standard compulsory for anyone willing to contest elections. This way, 99% of DMK &AIADMK politicans will be disqualified.
  • Free Dosa and Idli (1 dosa and 2 Idlis per meal per person per day) will be givento all those who can prove that they are hungry. DMK gives out free rice, AIADMK givesout mixies & grinders, but what use are these if they is no electricity connection to your house!
  • Vijaykanth will be made captain of the Tamil Nadu Army, so that he can put his skills to better use rather than in Politics.
  • DMK promises 4 sheep for every family below poverty line. We will give you 4 goats.They taste better!
  • All our MPs will be directed to speak only Tamil in the Parliament. It doesn’t matter if the rest don’t understand, as it is anyway the current situation if the current MPs from DMK speak English.
  • We will arrange emergency trains and buses from Mumbai to Chennai for tamilians whenever Shiv Sena decides to do a peaceful protest in Mumbai.
  • We will arrange special coaching classes on “respect” taken by the current AIADMK politicians who are experts in falling at the feet at the drop of a hat.
  • Since Polygamy is illegal in India, we will ban the use of the words “Amma” or ”Appa” for people other than the actual Amma/Appa as this leads non-tamilains to think otherwise.
  • No one in our party will have legal/illegal second/third wives. This is to avoid situations where the progeny of such relationships cause political problems in the future.
  • Our party will not install any vertical cutouts of my photo or of any other politician from our party.  Instead, will will install horizontal cutouts so that it will also provide shade to people looking for some respite from the hot sun.
  • Will convince Rahul Dravid to trademark the acronym DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) to avoid any Tom, Dick or Harry from adding letters in front of these 3 letters and form a party (in the future).

Section II: For Students

  • Will ban/impose fines on colleges like Satyabama where Neandrathal traditions like making boys and girls sit on separate sides of classroom are still followed.
  • Will arrange for special custom-made buses for students of Pachaiyappa College Students to travel in/break windows, because that is the only thing that the students of this college anyway do.
  • Will arrange a paintball field within the Chennai Law College so that the students of various castes in the college can spend their built-up animosity and fight with each other, but with minimal human damage.
  • Will introduce 1+1 free marks for Tamil Nadu state board students in Engg entrance exams  who correctly answer questions in which  the values/numbers are different from the one in their text books.

Section III: For IT Folks

  • A special coach will be allotted in all suburban trains with WiFi access. Entry to this coach is only for the IT folks i.e. with the dog-tag around the neck. Only beggars who can sing “Irumbile Ore Irudhyam Mulaikkutho” (From Robot) or other technical songs will be allowed into this coach. Beggars from North India who sing “Pardesi Pardesi Jana Nahi” will be politely asked to get down in the middle of two stations, unlike in Bihar where they are pushed off.
  • Special super-trucks will be arranged at the venues of TCS/Wipro walk-in interviews so that the selected people can be moved by the truckload to the respective campus. Such walk-ins in the future will be held at Island grounds with special squads providing butter-milk for those waiting in the queue.

Above is just a small list of all the good things our party intends to do if we get elected. So, for your benefit, come and vote for TLAOTWMK. Btw, our party symbol is “The Little Finger”. We had to choose this finger, as a combination of every other finger was already used by some party or the other and some fingers cannot be chosen for reasons of propriety.

 

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2011/03/my-manifesto-for-the-tamil-nadu-assembly-elections.html/feed 8 Rajini Endhiran Robot movie review from first day first show http://www.srajaram.com/2010/09/rajini-endhiran-robot-movie-review-from-first-day-first-show.html http://www.srajaram.com/2010/09/rajini-endhiran-robot-movie-review-from-first-day-first-show.html#comments Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:09:53 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=587 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Links to the review of Endhiran/Robot coming in after the first day first shows around the world!

Review from toi is given below. For other reviews, see the links below.
times of India Robot Review
IMDB Review
Galatta.com Review
Robo Rajini Review
India Glitz review
A twitter review on twitlonger
telugu film blog review

Story: Dr Vasi (Rajnikanth) is a scientist with a mission. He wants to create the first robot which would not only serve tea and coffee to its masters but would have the power to serve humanity in more meaningful ways.

He creates Chitti, the humanoid who looks like him and is willing to do anything for him. Trouble begins when he goes a step further and teaches the machine to feel. Chitti falls in love with the professor’s girl friend, Sana (Aishwarya Rai) and ends up becoming an almost undefeatable rival in love, courtesy the red chip that a rival scientist (Danny Denzongpa) infuses in him. Can the creator tame the rogue robot or will machine rule over man?

Movie Review: Want to see what mainstream Indian cinema actually means? Go, watch Robot. The last 30 minutes of the film are literally the baap (grandmaster) of all make-believe and end up creating a whole new genre of cinema: the `curry eastern’ which stands up as a wholesome alternative to the curry western. For Rajnikanth fans, the climax is definitely a sure-fire way to lose your sanity.

For non-Rajnikanth fans, it’s a sure-fire way to understand the mystique and magical allure of Rajni saar, a hero who enjoys a demi-god status in several parts of India. Why? Because there are almost a hundred Rajnikanths eating up helicopters, smashing cars, battering planet earth and creating havoc, like never before. If you thought Terminator, Matrix, Godzilla was fun, then we guarantee you’ll fall off your chair with glee as our desi T2-meets-Blade Runner-meets Neo-meets-Godzilla sets the screen on fire in a crazy, vengeance bid. Spoofy, yes. But super fun too.

Robot is primarily designed as an unadulterated tribute to the charisma of Indian cinema’s ageless superstar, Rajnikanth. And it’s completely, wholeheartedly, joyously desi. Where else would you find a hero who literally shoots with his fingers! What’s more important is the fact that you actually don’t mind when the bullet whizzes out of his forefinger and hits the man in front in the head. Instant death! Ha Ha!

The high point of Robot are the super quality special effects. All the Spiderman, Batman and Superhero antics of Rajnikanth have been done with exquisite elan by the Stan Winston Studio which reportedly provided the animatrics for films like Jurassic Park and Avatar. And all the stunts have been choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping, the Hong Kong based action director who created the high-adrenalin stunts of classics like Kill Bill and Matrix. Almost 40 per cent of the film’s colossal budget (Rs 160 crores) has been spent on special effects, which, at the end of the day, seems all worthwhile. For watching Rajnikanth running horizontal on a speeding train, clambering across burning buildings like Spiderman or mutating into gargantuan monsters does manage to shock and awe the viewer who’s out there to have big time fun.

But Robot isn’t effect alone. It has a plot too which, if you really pay attention, has a meaning and a message. The film carries forward the man-machine war through interesting twists and turns and creates a lively love triangle between scientist Rajnikanth, medico student, Aishwarya Rai and robot Rajnikanth. Interestingly, the duo make an interesting pair, what with Rajni saar’s sundry wigs and sideburns and Aishwarya’s tribal `Kilimanjaro-Mohenjodaro’ attire. Peppered with colourful songs (AR Rahman) and dances (Prabhu Deva, Raju Sundaram) and high-octane drama, Robot is the perfect getaway film, guaranteed to give you a high with its heady over-the-top Indian flavour. You might just OD (overdose) on the pungent masala fare.
Have a blast.

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2010/09/rajini-endhiran-robot-movie-review-from-first-day-first-show.html/feed 3 New Telangana state: a blow to the tamil gaana song industry http://www.srajaram.com/2009/12/new-telangana-state-a-blow-to-the-tamil-gaana-song-industry.html http://www.srajaram.com/2009/12/new-telangana-state-a-blow-to-the-tamil-gaana-song-industry.html#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:53:05 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=468 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> To hell with the new state! I am really pissed off with the decision to form the new state. As a proud Tamilian, i am hurt by this decision of the congress government.

Until now, Tamil Nadu held the monopoly over “gaana pattu” and “dappan kuthu”  songs. But that is threatened now with the formation of a new state – Telangana – whose revenue model has been conceived on the production of telugu gaana songs. Many, including the famed Burkha Dutt of NDTV, believe that there are political motivations behind the split of Andhra Pradesh. Little do they understand the sentiments of the common man and his needs.

There are multiple implications of this proposed split of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Andhra/2 Pradesh

  • The telugu gaana industry will start making more money than the Andhra fake certificate industry. There are multiple implications of this
    • The number of graduates/post-graduates/certificate holders from Andhra will drastically reduce and thus open up opportunities for Marathis, thus pleasing HIM , thus reducing riots in maharashtra, thus leading to a reduction in burnt vehicles, thus leading to a reduction in insurance claims, thus making more profits for the insurance cartel, which is not good!
    • The number people with high percentage of marks in their graduation going to the US of A for higher studies will reduce, which will lead to a reduction of staff available for work in Andhra restaurants in California, thus leading to the closure of many such restaurants, thus leading to more people flocking to Punjabi restaurants, thus leading to more people eating Aloo Parathas, thus leading to more south indians startingto resemble the big punjabis (post marriage), which is not good.
  • DJs in clubs will start belting out more telugu gaana hits than tamil folk songs and bhangra songs. Don’t ever have a doubt about the popularity of gaana songs. Even my daughter, Akshara, prefers gaana and kuthu songs over ghazals. She has even mastered the vijaykanth dance mode of sit/stand/put your hands on the head routine!
  • YS Jagan Reddy, the son of late chief minister of Andhra pradesh, YS Rajsekhara Reddy, will stand to lose over 1500 crores. The logic is that YS jagan Reddy made 3000 crores  allegedly by devious means.  Now, if Telangana splits, the new politicians in telangana would obviously ask for a share of the loot as they would lose out on the kitty of 1500 crores that they can make.

Now, how do we patriotic tamilians address this serious issue?

  • Pass a bill immediately in the Tamil Nadu assembly to get the word “gaana” patented such that only original tamil kuthu songs can be associated with the word “gaana”. At the same time, a memo should be sent to the centre and HIM in maharashtra clarifying that this word “gaana” has nothing to do with the Hindi word “gaana”. This has to be done before a press release is done about the patent lest Tamilians start getting beaten up by bollywood gangs.
  • Arrange for a secret deal with Hyderabad and outsource the production of Biryanis to Chennai. This would infuriate the telangana politicians as one of their main reasons for asking Hyderabad was for its biryani. If the biryani were outsourced to Chennai, telanga would lose their interest in Hyderabad and thus it would reduce their access to studios capable of producing gaana songs in hyderabad.

if you can think of other ideas to help the tamil cause, do add them in the comments!

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2009/12/new-telangana-state-a-blow-to-the-tamil-gaana-song-industry.html/feed 6 The ordeal of eating at Hotel Saravana Bhavan http://www.srajaram.com/2008/06/ordeal-of-eating-at-hotel-saravana.html http://www.srajaram.com/2008/06/ordeal-of-eating-at-hotel-saravana.html#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:21:00 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=306 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Hotel Saravana Bhavan started in Chennai in the year 1981 (almost as old as me!) with the K.K.Nagar branch. We moved to K.K.Nagar in the year 1990 and from the first time i tasted the famous Saravana Bhavan sambhar, there was no looking back. I was addicted to it.
Back then, when there was no concept of pocket money/allowance, it was hard work trying to “collect” enough money for a visit to the hotel. There was a tacit understanding with my mom that any “unattended” coin with a value of <= 1 rupee could be claimed by me as mine. There were other sources of income too. I would always immediately respond to anyone's call for help in recovering coins which would have fallen behind tables/shelves. I would attempt (or rather attempt to attempt) to recover those coins, but ensure that i make back-breaking groans and moans when i do so. This would immediately prompt my mom to say "It's ok. Leave it if you cannot reach it" and the coin would be forgotten. But the location would be promptly stored in my mind and when the time/need arrived, i would go over and, with the slightest of ease, recover the valuable 50 paise. So, once i had collected 7 rupees (the price of a sada dosa back then), I would run over to Saravana Bhavan and enjoy a sada dosa with the three types of Chutney, the sambhar and the Molaga Podi. Pure Bliss!
But, when my brother started growing older, there was competition for the stray coins. My mom, realising the rising inflation along with the competition from my brother, increased the threshold of coins defined as “stray” to 2 rupees! So, from then on, the only hotel i swore by, the only hotel which i considered worth visiting has always been Saravana Bhavan.
So, it is no surprise that i look forward to this whenever i visit Chennai. I was in Chennai last week and had been to Saravana Bhavan. Then began the ordeal!
It was around 7 in the evening and the place was full of people. So, it was tough to find a place. I had to wait a few minutes to find one empty seat on a table of four. But, considering the humidity in Chennai in summer, this place was a wrong choice as it was far away from the reach of the ceiling fans. So, i didn’t place my order and was on the lookout for a better table. To my luck, a place on the other side of the room (just below a fan) was vacated. So, i jumped up and walked across the room. But, it looked like i was not the only one with this idea. Another guy, who was unfortunately nearer, occupied this seat before i could go over. Disappointed, i turned back to go to my place. But, even this was gone now as it was forcible occupied by the family on the next table who decided to give a separate chair to a child not even tall enough to reach the table. No wonder there is so much competition in India for everything! So, i was back on the waiting list. Luckily, all this action was seen by a waiter who was kind enough to come over and volunteer to find a good place for me. True to his words, he found a good seat – right under the fan. After thanking him a lot, i sat down to enjoy a good meal.
Now, i had to order stuff. In the past, when i had been on month long home leaves, i usually start ordering based on the serial number on the menu and go one by one. But this time, I was in India for just a week and it was already the 4th day into this week. So, this concept would not work. I had to go for plan B which was to either choose according to my likes or according to availability. If i were to go based on my liking, it had to be one of the dosas accompanied by the sambar. What i meant by “availability” is the probability of getting that particular item back in Cyprus. Yes, we do get Dosas in the Keralam restaurant in Cyprus, but i have to drive a 100 kms and pay a humongous 14 dollars for a single masala dosa, but theoretically, dosas are available and so they are out of consideration. Then, it had to be the famous Parotta kurma. So, i ordered it. You can never have only one dish in saravana bhavan. So, for the next item, i chose the 14 idli sambhar dish. Nowadays, you might have to request for a magnifying dish as an accessory to see the “mini” idlis. The main course was done. A dinner at Saravana Bhavan is always finished with the famous “Masala Milk”, yellow in colour with the “paal edu” (that which many hate to have in their glass of milk, but which i love!) floating on top.
So, after having ordered for the Masala Milk, i went over to the wash basin. When i returned, the inevitable happened. My seat was gone, taken over by the next saravana bhavan enthusiast. Now, do i just leave and hope that my bill will be paid by this guy? But, i havent had my glass of masala milk!! There is no way I am going to leave without it. So, not knowing what to do, i slowly wander near by hitherto seat. The friendly waiter comes into the picture again, smiles and offers another seat and even brings over my water glass to my new seat.
One hour and three seat changes later, i finish my dinner. Yes, it was an ordeal, but it was worth every bit.

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2008/06/ordeal-of-eating-at-hotel-saravana.html/feed 1 Indian Premier League (IPL) is a success http://www.srajaram.com/2008/05/indian-premier-league-ipl-is-success.html http://www.srajaram.com/2008/05/indian-premier-league-ipl-is-success.html#comments Mon, 05 May 2008 14:12:00 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=301 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Why do i conclude so? Because i “feel” so. When Chennai Super Kings lost their matches, i felt bad and was wondering as to what they could have done better. When the Chennai team gets a wicket, i applaud and feel happy, though that wicket might be a player whom i would love to watch any other day.
This was what the organisers of IPL wanted, this was what Lalit Modi would have hoped for and it has happened. IPL has become an addiction. I spend seven hours both days of the weekend watching both the matches. Somehow, my earlier argument that 20-20 matches are just 3 hrs long doesn’t seem to hold good with Vidhya any longer and i get admonished every time i put on the channel to watch IPL.
No, I was never a cricket-crazed person. I love to play cricket and given an opportunity, i don’t mind playing it all day. But, watching cricket for extended periods not for me. I consistently used to fall asleep on the sofa between the 15th and the 40th overs of an innings.
I was never a fan of test cricket with the exception of Ashes. Getting up at odd hours of the night to watch the first ball being bowled in the boxing day test match, that is something only a true cricket fan would understand! Maybe it is the green grounds, maybe it is the telecast quality, maybe it is the commentary team, i don’t know the reason, but i can watch the entire three sessions of an ashes test match without taking a break. The other test matches, i care a damn. An india-sri lanka match happening in Jaipur, chennai wherever, I just hear about it from friends. At the other end, there are people (there are!) who watch the ball-by-ball commentary on cricinfo of even Ranji trophy matches! I wouldn’t even recognise the names of most of the guys on the team.
But, IPL is different. The cricket is entertaining (not just the cheerleaders), it is fast and furious. The new talent knocking on the national team would surely give the jitters to the experienced indian players. I am addicted to IPL. What about you ?
and …Chennai Super Kings rock!

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2008/05/indian-premier-league-ipl-is-success.html/feed 0 Are these games still played? http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/are-these-games-still-played.html http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/are-these-games-still-played.html#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:52:00 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=298 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> The post “Games we forgot” on hawkeye was one of those posts that you back to your childhood days and bring back fond memories. There are a lot of games mentioned in his post and i remembered having played many of those. If you can’t recollect any of the games mentioned below, check out his post.
Kings: I remember having played this game event until the end of high school. It is a fast paced game and i was good at it, as it required the person inside the circle (or whatever field) to be pretty athletic in avoiding the ball. Of course, I have had embarrassing moments in school when, out of over-enthusiasm, i do too many acrobatic stunts and end up with my pants torn in all the wrong places!
Chains: This game was very popular in my apartment, but only when the girls were also present. Contrary to other games in the same category, there was a great demand to become the catcher, because the catcher would first “choose” the girl who he wants to hold hands with, make her out and enjoy the rest of the game holding her hands!
French Cricket: This was played when we didn’t have the required strength to play a proper game of cricket. A good cricket player would have lot of fun in this kind of game, as it was almost impossible to get a good cricket player in this form of the game. The others, pity them, as they would be spending the entire time running to all parts of the “open” field, as there was rarely a n”end” to the field.
Hide n’ seek (Kannam M/Poochi): This was a standard game, but we used to play it on our terrace. Thinking of the places i used to hide in gives me the jitters now, as our terrace was the fourth floor and i used to climb on top of the tanks and even down the water pipes by the side of the building to the sunshades on the windows of the third floor flats.
Hand Tennis: The usual rules of tennis, except that the racquet is replaced by the palm. Our moms used to be the water-moms. The water was not for drinking, but for cooling the reddened palms.
Chalk Cricket: We used to play this at school, where a ruler replaced a bat and a chalk replaced a ball. The chalk (usually 1/2 a chalk) was placed vertically on the table (serving as a pitch) and it had to be flicked towards the batsman (which constitutes a delivery). We even had different scores based on which girl you managed to hit, ranging from +6 (the highest) to -2(the lowest). Few of the girls also knew this scoring system and we have had many an argument for the validity of the rating.
Unfortunately, the games which people (from the South) usually recollect are Goli (marbles) and Gilli-Danda, both of my which i have never played! I am sure that there are many more that i have played and forgotten and i hope that some blog post comes along the way which refreshes my memory.

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/are-these-games-still-played.html/feed 2 Chennai Super Kings beat Punjab Kings XI at Mohali http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/chennai-super-kings-beat-punjab-kings.html http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/chennai-super-kings-beat-punjab-kings.html#comments Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:48:00 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=296 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Way to go Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni and his men couldn’t expect a better start to the tournament. Though this defeat wasn’t as convincing as the way King Khan’s Knight riders smashed the Bangalore Royal Challengers, it was good enough to get the players into the groove for the rest of the tournament.
Mike Hussey showed the way for the Chennai Super Kings with a brilliant hundred. When the Punjab Kings were chasing and Kumar Snagakkara and James Hopes were having a partnership, things looked to be pretty even between the sides. But once hopes was dismissed, it was pretty easy for the Super Kings.
Great start Chennai Super Kings, keep it up. Vijay and Nayanthara will be proud of you! On the other hand, someone should teach Preity Zinta hot to cheer in cricket. The moves Preity Zinta were making would fit better in a boxing ring and not in a cricket stadium and it looked so artificial!

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/chennai-super-kings-beat-punjab-kings.html/feed 1 Kolkata Knight riders beat Bangalore Royal Challenge in the first IPL t20 match http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/kolkata-knight-riders-beat-bangalore.html http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/kolkata-knight-riders-beat-bangalore.html#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:46:00 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=295 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> badly, very badly, in fact miserably! But, what can they do? Poor Vijay Mallya. When he purchased the Bangalore team in the Indian Premier league, I guess that he wouldn’t have had an idea that his iconic player in the twenty 20 matches, the player for whom he would have to pay the highest money, would have been Rahul Dravid, of all the cricketers!
Yes, Rahul Dravid is a good cricketer, but this is 20-20, not the bend-forward-show-the-full-face-front-foot-defence game! Even i wouldn’t have Rahul Dravid in my team for the Galli cricket 6 over matches! When the Bangalore team went in to bat today at the Chinnaswamy stadium, I almost fell off my sofa seeing Dravid and Wasim Jaffer walk out. What are the two test players doing in a wham-bham-thank-you-maam kind of game?
But Vijay Mallya, you have something to rejoice. There are lot of Bangloreans going to get drunk today with the sadness over this miserable loss and you can hope that they buy your liquor! You can also hope that Shah Rukh Khan and his Kolkata Knight riders will purchase your liquor in the party tonight.
I am obviously a supporter of Chennai Super Kings and i hope that the combined power of Dhoni, Muralidharan, Mathew Hayden and Fleming would be enough to crush the other teams.
Long live IPL, Long live Chennai Super Kings!

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2008/04/kolkata-knight-riders-beat-bangalore.html/feed 1 Tata Nano and Hamara Bajaj Lite – The 1 Lakh small car http://www.srajaram.com/2008/01/tata-nano-and-hamara-bajaj-lite-1-lakh.html http://www.srajaram.com/2008/01/tata-nano-and-hamara-bajaj-lite-1-lakh.html#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:22:00 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=276 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Okay, the bajaj one is more than 1 lakh, but it is targeting the same segment as the Tato Nano/Jeh. So, i guess that it is okay to bring them together.
tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car
Tata and Bajaj are making it easier for the common man to purchase a car now. When a bike costs 50,000 Rupees, who wouldn’t like to go for a cosier option by paying another 50,000 rupees. This move by Tata and Bajaj has lot of implications:
  • The Indian cities would now definitely feature of every edition of “The Amazing Race”, “The crazy Race” or whatever new series the american channels can think of. Even now, it is fashionable for people to show a segment where a foreigner is shown driving on the Indian roads. Now with the Tata Nanos and Bajaj Lites replacing all the motorcycles, more mayhem is assured on our roads which translates into more dollars from all the foreign tv shows coming to India.
  • It is said that 1 in every 5 mile of the highways in USA was built straight so that it could be used as a landing strip in times of war. The Indian government was very impressed by this concept that they “customised” it a bit and implemented here. On the Indian roads, 1 in every 5 km is pot-hole free so that people can use that part to stand on when the other sections gets filled up with water during excessive rains. The other 4 kms were designed so to stop any advancing armies which don’t have the capabilities to negotiate such obstructions.
  • With respect to the last sentence of the previous point, Pakistan and China have already placed orders for thousands of Tata Nanos and Bajaj Lites, which are cheap options for their armies to use when invading our country as these vehicles are built for Indian roads.
  • Demand for land of a particular type has sky-rocketed after these announcements. No one even wants a petrol bunk to be allotted to them now. All of them are now crazy after allocation of parking lots, as soon, every tom, dick and harry in India will be driving around in small cars.

So, the small cars are not only stirring the Indian media, but the media of other countries are also getting interested. Tata and Bajaj, a good move!

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]]> http://www.srajaram.com/2008/01/tata-nano-and-hamara-bajaj-lite-1-lakh.html/feed 3 Flight of fancy or was i on it ? http://www.srajaram.com/2007/12/flight-of-fancy-or-was-i-on-it.html http://www.srajaram.com/2007/12/flight-of-fancy-or-was-i-on-it.html#comments Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:33:00 +0000 Rajaram S http://www.srajaram.com/?p=270 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Well, it turned out that i really flew and it was not a dream. But, the flight on the low-cost carrier Spice JetBut turned out to have all the ingredients of a “spicy” dream.
I had to go to Pune from Chennai and the first option that turned up on makemytrip.com was the SpiceJet flight which had, incidentally, been started only a week back. The price was too tempting to let go and after a few exchanges of mails with friends about low-cost carriers, i went ahead and booked tickets for me, vidhya and my mom from Chennai to Pune and back.
It has been more than 7 years since i went on a domestic flight and i don’t remember anything from that experience. So, practically for the first time, i was walking into the domestic terminal at Chennai Airport. We went through a big lobby and within 1 minute, we were at the boarding gate. Or was it a boarding gate? It just looked like normal door out of the building. But, there was a Jet airways person next to it and there were people queueing up. So it must be a gate.
But, where was the SpiceJet gate? There was just one door and Jet Airways was next to it and our flight’s boarding time was just 5 mins away. It was just then that i saw a remarkable manoeuvre from the staff of the Jet and Spice Jet airlines. There were lot of those wooden stands (from where people make speeches, i forgot the word for it) with the nameplates of the different airlines. As soon as the last Jet Airways passenger went through the gate/door, in one swift move, the Jet airways person moved her “stand” away from the door and the SpiceJet person rolled over his “stand” next to the door.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, SpiceJet is happy to announce the departure of its flight to Pune. Passengers are requested to proceed to the boarding gate.”

So, this is how the same door becomes the boarding gate for the different airlines. Didn’t know that! So, we are in the flight and comfortably settled in. Even after i explain the intricacies of low-cost carriers, my mom is not able to comprehend a flight without food. But, it was good that water was free and my mom was happy!

After some time into the flight, the flight attendants brought some food for sale. With it was also Litchi Juice costing around 30 bucks. Litchi juice of all juices! if they had brought Mango Juice, Orange Juice or even Lemon Juice, it would have been ok, but how may people actually drink Litchi Juice? I decide to skip the juice and dozed off for the rest of the flight to Pune.

Once we landed at Pune and people started disembarking, i looked out of the window and expected to see a bus/van to take us from the plane to the terminal. I had been expecting too much. It seems that you have to get down from the plane, walk across few parking lots (meant for other planes) and you enter the terminal, just like you would do in any railway station.

As we were standing inside the terminal getting used to the small building and contemplating on our next move, there was an announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last and final call for spice jet flight xxx to coimbatore. Passengers are requested to …”. Interesting, we thought. There are people who fly to Coimbatore even from Pune. A few minutes later, another announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last and final call for spice jet flight xxx to coimbatore. Passengers are requested to …” !!! I never knew that there could be many instances of “last and final”!

The stay in Pune was very eventful and it requires a separate post. So, we finished whatever we had to do in Pune and the next day, we were on the return flight home. We were one of the first to board the flight at Pune. Looking out of the window, we saw a big group running very fast towards the plane and crowding at the base of the stairs up to the plane. Vidhya and I were discussing that this flight probably had a unreserved section and these people were the poor ones who were without seat numbers and it was a matter of “first come, first seated”.

But, as one soul entered the plane in the front, we realised that this was not the case. In came a scantily clad middle-aged man accompanied by a twenty something. Ah, this has to be a sadhu. He fitted the profile perfectly. I was right. He sat in the first seat and everyone entering after him (this was the big group) managed to somehow find enough place in the cramped aisle to prostrate completely before him and get his blessings. There were many foreigners also in tyhis group. I thought Indians went abroad and took the jobs/money of foreigners, but now i realised that we invite them to our country and do the same, saving the cost of travelling abroad. I watched the faces of the people go by. They were on cloud nine, on seventh heaven whatever you want to call it. Even an autograph or a kiss from aishwarya rai would have paled in comparison.

There was a couple seated behind us and they were on the edge of their seats to get a glance of the sadhu. I asked them who this was and they said in unision “guruji, sarath babu guruji”. Had Sarath Babu changed professions because of low returns from films ? No, it wasn’t the actor as i remembered him from his films and guruji looked a lot different.

So, after a few dozen people had finished getting their blessings, the plane was ready to depart. Until then, the air hostesses had a tough time getting people to move towards the back to their seats. It was Deja Vu! When i was in school, our school bus conductor always kept shouting at the boys to move to the back, away from the girls’ seats in the front. Anyway, after all was finally ok, the captain announced the departure.

Then, out of the blue, a guy starting running towards the front of the plane. Vidhya panicked “Was this a hijack attempt?”. I didn’t think so. The plane had not even moved and it was too early for a hijack. But, you never know, this guy could have been one of the low performers in the “School of Hijacking” and in his eagerness to pull off his first hijack, could have acted a bit too early. But, it was not so, thankfully. It seemed that he had suddenly developed some mysterious sickness and was feeling very uncomfortable and had to get off the plane. The air hostess tried to explain that it was too late now as they had already got the clearing for take-off. He started getting agitated and demanded that he disembark from the plane. The captain relented and asked him to get his baggage.

So, he got off the plane and the captain announced that there was some paperwork to be done before they left and it would take another ten minutes. Then there was an announcement “Ladies and gentleman, please check whether all your cabin baggages are still inside the plane”. Everyone panicked! Though he had gone out in clear view of everyone carrying a dark blue bag, my mom insisted that we check all our baggage even though none of our bags would seem dark blue, even to the colour blind! Imagine a hundred people jumping out of their seats in unison, opening all the overhead lockers and jumping up and down to check whether all their bags were there. After a few minutes, all were satisfied that he had not taken any other’s baggage with him.

Suddenly, an Eureka moment came for Vidhya: “Whats the point in checking whether he had taken anyone else’s luggage? What if he had left a piece of baggage behind? a bomb?”. A perfectly logical question from Vidhya (was the moon blue? I peeked out to search for it, i couldn’t find it). So, for the rest of the journey, any ticking sound from a watch would get nervous glances from my mom.

We were in the air, finally. After the seat belt sign was switched off, people started to throng the front row preventing the air hostess from bringing the Litchi Juice. Then, one smart gentleman, seeing the opportunity, decided to stand next to the guruji and act as the coordinator and started issuing coupons for the visit to the first row (well, almost!). The air hostess begged, pleaded and tried every trick in the air-hostess’ guidebook to get the passengers back to their seats, but nothing worked. Then, a knock on the cockpit and few words were exchanged and an announcement: “Ladies and Gentlemen, due to the prevailing turbulence, we request all of you to get back to your seats and fasten your seat-belts”. I settled back in my seat and looking at the crystal-clear sky through the window, dozed off for the rest of the flight.

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