Kite flying and Katrina

We went to Jeysri's aunt's house yesterday. It is in Rayapuram. So in the evening, we took to the terrace for some kite-flying. It was amazing to see so many people in their terraces with a large 'gandu' or roll of thread, flying kites. Haven't seen anything like that in the south Madras. And it brought back memories of the old kite-flying days. I do not have a vivid interest in flying kites. But we were 2-3 boys in the same age group and we used to buy the kites and fly them in the evenings. As in Rayapuram yesterday, there used to be lots of people on terraces flying kites in the evenings. I think its during september-october time of every year and there used to be competitions as to who flies high etc. Of course, the preparation of 'maanja' for 'dealing' the kites is quite famous although I have never done that. Jeysri's nephew yesterday explained how the 'maanja' is prepared and his exploits in preparing the same during school days (he is married now!) like using pressure cookers or the 'ammi's for mixing the toxic ingredients etc. It was fun.

'Kalachuvadu' has come up with a issue on the food of the tamils. There are some very interesting articles. The online issue is not updated yet. Look out for it. Do you know that the sangam book 'Sirpaanatrupadai' describes mutton biriyani as 'oon soru'?. Amazing stuff. I was thinking of all the stuff we used to have and probably my son will end up hearing only from me.

One of the things that you notice on OMR while going down is the removal of trees and buildings for the new IT corridor that is coming up. While it is good that we are getting a 6 lane highway, it is equally bad that so many trees have to go for this?. Isn't there something called 'sustainable development'?. And this is supposed to be a eco-friendly development. Hmm.

And Katrina. Watching 'BBC world' New Orleans was looking surrealistic. I am more amazed by the slow response by the Federal government. I think it even made me realize that lot of wealth does not mean that a lot of effective people are with you. In comparison, I think the response to the Tsunami was quick and swift and the TN government and the NGOs were quick to respond. Its just tragic to see all those dead bodies strewn around the superdome and the desperate people asking water and food. It probably exposed the soft underbelly of the FEMA and I hope something is learned in the process.