Chennai book fair and a few random thoughts..

When my mom was in school, she used to come to Chennai for visits. We did not have any relatives at that time (1960s) and I should think of these visits as purely for seeing the sights as my grandfather had the travel bug all the time. They used to stay in the Nadar Mansion in the Poonamalle High road (even today, this is our family's choice of stay) and go around. One of the things she used to tell us is the grand dinners they used to have in the Hotel Dasaprakash in PH road.

Last saturday, I went to the Chennai book fair. Since I was going alone, wife and kids were in in-laws, I preferred to take my favorite means of transport, the suburban train and bus. So got down at Egmore and had a look at the spire of the St. Andrews church and started walking. I was not really in a mood to wait for a bus and so thought, if I start walking, I might reach the fair quickly and also can walk along the quiet railways quarters area in the PH road. Thats when I saw the Dasaprakash. I've seen it before but this time, it looked derelict and kind of a sad reminder of the days it had seen. There was a old watchman at the post and a few old cars and carriages in the front yard. I couldn't figure whether it is still functioning and was busy contrasting with the newest 'Influence' in the next block which has a fashion store, spa and a stylish restaurant. Somehow, I felt like taking a picture and took one of Dasaprakash. Got a bus near the Dr. Nair road and reached the book fair.
It is kind of irrational for me to see so much crowd in the book fair and there was no parking inside and so it spilled into the road with cars and bikes parking all along with impatient MTC drivers honking their way through. The stalls were as usual too many and the crowd was heavy at the entrance and gets thin as you walk through the stalls. The books that seem to sell are the 'தன்னம்பிக்கை' books and children books. In fact, when I was standing in the Kizhakku stall, there was guy who wanted from me a quick review on the five parts of the 'அள்ள அள்ள பணம்' and I have to tell him I didn't even know such a book exists. Not sure whether he thought I was working in the stall or just looked like a book who needed to read that book.

Doordarshan has reduced the price of the 'Bharat - Ek Khoj' series from an idiotic initial price of 18000Rs (for 18 DVDs) to a nominally irrational 5000Rs. I am still wondering who sets these prices here and whether the aim is to make sure only a few people see such series.

For once, I was able to find what I was searching for in Sahitya Akademi(thats how they spell it) and was happy find the new edition of 'Parva'. CBT and NBT had some good children books and the rest of the stalls were busily selling Dora, dictionaries at a faster rate than any time.

Outside, everything from a blood donation camp to a 'புதுமை கவியரங்கம்' with Mehta as lead was going on and I made it out before it started.

Overall, when I came back and checked the books I've bought, three books on Mahabharata (Parva, உப பாண்டவம், கிருஷ்ணா கிருஷ்ணா). But what I am looking forward to is the writings of E.V. Periyar.

MRTS to Mylapore

One of the recent happenings in Velachery is the opening of the MRTS station, thereby connecting Velachery with Northern Madras via a railway network along the beach corridor. In fact, from last week's Vikatan, I came to know that the first proposal was made in 1956 and it took approximately 50+ years for it to reach Velachery and the original proposal talks about the line till Mahabalipuram.

But that apart, the impact of this extended line can be seen immediately as this has completely changed the way Velechery was commuting (not to mention the un(der)developed Madipakkan and other surrounding areas. One has to visit the station to see the kind of change a good public transport system can bring into the city.

I took my first ride 2-3 weeks back when we decided that we will park the car in the station and go to see Kapaleeshwarar in his abode in Mylapore.
Now, we repeated the same yesterday. There is huge parking lot in front of the station and the crowd is minimal on a Saturday. Of course, Sibi is taking this line till beach for sometime now. So we have to wait for the pink or the yellow trains to come or otherwise, Sibi will not board. I never fully understood the reason for this but suits me to spend sometime in the station with the kids watching the trains go by. Vanathy has taken a liking for the 'choo-choos' hearing much from her brother on the subject. So both of them go crazy whenever they see a train.
The approach road to the Velachery road is a mess but if you pass that by, the parking lot is concrete-paved and is quite good. The train passes by Taramani, Perungudi, Indira Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, Kotturpuram, Mandaveli to reach Mylapore.

I've never been to Kapaleeshwarar temple till about 3 weeks back and has taken a instant liking to it. The vast kulam with the abundance of fish, the busy streets with the roadside shops, the vast corridor and the lord Himself who reminds me of Madurai every time I visit the temple make the trip very special.
Yesterday we took a walk around the temple and went to Giri trading agency which specializes in puja materials and bought a few books as well. Had dinner in Saravana bhavan and returned home. Imagining the same trip by car trying to negotiate the Mylapore traffic gives me the shudders.

Today visited City center for a bit of shopping but was taken aback by the crowd in Lifestyle. But when you come out and look in the 'Ambedkar bridge' behind the mall, I saw a old couple in the bed on the pavement with dirty kids running around. A typical sight in the city but it also made me wonder whether we are so tuned to these sights that it doesn't register the poverty which drives this kind of inequality and the politics which keeps it the same way. Whether these will make any impact on the minds of my kids is another thing that I keep thinking about. May be I need to talk to them.

Kone falls

Last weekend we drove to the Kone falls. Kone falls is in AP near Puttur.
The trip started after I read a couple of entries in the BSmotoring site. The falls is in a place called Kailashkona in SH-51. Though the site gave some outline of the directions, I found an entry in Google Earth and was able to deduce the directions to a certain extent. And the clarity of GE pictures means I could pinpoint a few landmarks as well.
We (me, J, Sibi, Vananthy and my father) started at about 9AM in the morning towards Koyembedu and continued on the JN road till the Red Hills flyover. Taking the left of the flyover, the road becomes NH 5. The road is 4 laned with median and very good to drive on. After about 30 Kms, the L&T toll plaza comes. Once you pass the plaza, take a left and you are on SH-51.

GE calls this road NH205 but I couldn't find any marker with that sign on. There are a host of villages coming in the TN side of this road with both livestock and people crossing at regular intervals. After uthukkottai, you enter AP. Once crossed over, the villages becomes lesser and road wider and with paddy fields on both sides, its a pleasure to drive on.
We stopped a couple of times to show Sibi the paddy crop and how it grows etc. We drove on SH-51 and the first doubt that we lost our way came when we entered Puttur. When enquired found that we overshoot Kone by about 7-8 Kms. We drove back 8 Kms and the sign clearly said Kailashkona.

The last couple of Kms was a single lane road approaching the falls itself. Once you reach the parking and climbing about 50 steps, the falls come into view. Its not so much a falls when compared to courtallum and all. But the water falls from high above and is pleasant to take bath as the falls sees fewer visitors. We had a long bath and after chasing away the monkeys, drove back 2-3 Kms to find a big enough tree to put the sheets in for Lunch.

After a good lunch, drove back the same way and reached home by 5PM. The trip is good in the sense the drive is not taxing and you have fun in the falls and return back by evening to spend some time at home as well.

Day 10 - Gurgaon - Chennai

After reaching home in the morning on the day of Baisakhi, we decide to just roam around Gurgaon for the day and complete the packing for our return to Chennai.

We visited the Ambience Mall, supposed to be the largest in India and this monstrosity is just big and so vain that most of the space is unoccupied. Did some shopping at Reliance Digital, India's answer to 'Circuit City'. It was nothing much to write about.

My brother then took us to the local shops nearby and it was afternoon and was very hot to walk around. And most of the shops are closed for Baisakhi. So we just had some snacks and returned back home.

After resting, took the flight out of Delhi to reach Chennai by 9.30PM. One thing about the low-cost fliers. Both SpiceJet and JetLite were running the service very much like our MTC buses and probably JetLite will take the honor the worst of these two. Except prices, there is no selling point for these carriers and next time, probably I will shell out more some amenities as well.