Of Sun, Sivaji, Stalin and Sulekha
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ShareThisJun 3 2007 Views 2583 Comments (69) Tags: sun chennai sulekha office stalin sivaji billboards
OF SUN, SIVAJI, STALIN & SULEKHA
The discerning reader may well ask, What the hell have all these got to do with each other? To them I say, Wait, all in good time. Till then, hang on for the ride as we are going to Chennai
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
The plane landed at Kamaraj Airport, Chennai at 08:25 AM to the cheering announcement from the Captain that the temperature outside was 32 deg Centigrade. 32? At 08:25 in the AM? Jeeezus! I emerged from the airport to a pleasing sight though. There was a uniformed chap holding a placard with my name on it. Felt good. This was part of my upgraded status since changing jobs a couple of months ago. I was now saved the whole rigmarole of bargaining with Chennais famous Autokaaras, each one of who thinks he was the inspiration for Rajnikants eponymous movie. Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007My earlier firm had their branch office at T Nagar, near the Late Sivaji Ganesans residence and I was supposed to find my way there. I had perfected a technique of jumping into the auto saying, Sivaji Veedu, T Nagar (Veedu meaning house), nothing more, as my spoken Tamil is quite execrable. The guy would think that I was a local. Only when we reached there, the fun would start, but it was manageable. Now I had a chauffeured limousine. Wellnot exactly, it was a Tata Indigo, but what the hell, a definite improvement.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
The temperature outside the car was steadily rising as we moved towards Old Mahabalipuram Road, where I had my project site. Music from Rajnikants new movie Sivaji was playing on the car deck. Kartik, the driver was a Rajni fan how couldnt he be one? The whole state was smitten. I got a brief blast of the Sun God when I stepped out of the car to buy cigarettes. I made the mistake of asking for them in Hindi and immediately the chappie tried to gyp me out of the change. A timely switch to Tamil made him contrite, but left a bad taste in the mouth (apart from that of burnt tobacco) Why? But I didnt waste time on pondering and continued on my, thankful for the AC.Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007The sun made me wonder, why did they change the name of Madras to Chennai? It has put paid to a whole genre of poetry (if you call it that) Madras rhymes with Grass, Brass and even Arse (or Ass if you are American) What does Chennai rhyme with? Puzzling
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
The first impression I got, apart from the heat was of Greenery. As we got out of Chennai and moved inland, the greenery was quite pleasing to the eye. Swaying coconut trees and dense scrub on essentially plain contours.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
The only incongruence starts when we spot the new buildings that the IT boom has fuelled. The architecture has a sameness about it that is disturbing. Whether it is Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad or Chennai, the same Global idiom is being repeated. Geographical distances and context seems to be vanishing as an influence on the built form. Cant scream too loud though. Im an aider & abettor of this crime. My fellow professionals, and me, the architects are responsible for this. More is the pity.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
If I were to tell you that this snap was from any other IT hub in the country, you couldnt contradict me. I rest my case.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
Fortunately I finished my work pretty fast. Having lunched, I was free by 2:30 PM and had the rest of the day to myself. On earlier trips, I would try to get back to the airport and wheedle my way onto any available flight, or head for the Landmark Book shop in Spencers Plaza on Mount Road. This time, I decided to do something different. I rang up the Sulekha office. Mukundan, Head Member Relations seemed delighted to hear from me and invited me to their office at Egmore. Detailed directions were given and I proceeded thence. Ever since I have started blogging, I have been curious about this outfit.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
The Sulekha office occupies the fourth and fifth floor of a building opposite the Police Commissioners office on Pantheon Street. The Reception is quite tiny, but the office itself is quite well appointed. The notice board displayed the Outlook magazine article quite prominently. All told, they have about 300 staffers, with Chennai being the largest office. Mukund, who showed me around the office, escorted me. I met Deepesh as well as Sudhir Syal, who surprised and flattered me by quoting from my earlier blogs. We then settled in the conference room for a long chat. (Met another chap too, but cant recollect his name. Hes the moustachioed guy on the login page)
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
The topic of discussion, as expected, started with the ongoing plagiarism fracas with Ibibo. Mukund again explained that he had established contact with the chaps there. They have agreed to delete the copied blogs, but cant act until someone points out the thievery. With thousands of blogs being posted daily, it appears that their pay-for-blogging scheme seems to have snowed them in. I could go along with this, but wanted him to show some action on the protection front. I agreed that disabling the right-click function wasnt panacea, but it could help. Mukund has agreed to work on it with their IT chaps.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
Mukund then smoothly shifted gears onto initiatives that Sulekha have taken to promote good writing. They have tie-ups with DNA Me, Deccan Chronicle and The New Sunday Indian Express. Copies of the newspapers were brought in and I was given one of each to take away. To tell you the truth, it was gratifying. Das _w, the doc from Chennai had just been featured and so had Charuavi, for her piece on Peru. DNA has had its share of stories too. We talked about how this could be taken further, maybe another book on the lines of India Smiles with Penguin. I wondered if Sulekha could actually act as literary agents, maybe as a sister concern? God knows, they already have the talent in their stable.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
Other things discussed were the grievances regarding points & ranking. He was quite insistent that they couldnt be manipulated just by page views or comments, but had to be a combination of everything. They cannot reveal the exact system, but I asked him to be a little bit more transparent and explain to the members what they were doing. I again pushed for the rating system, with some kind of safeguard to prevent multiple ratings from one ID. They have promised to think about it.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
All in all, I felt it had been a productive hour or so, which I spent there. Leaving them, I had to rush to the airport, if you call that as rushing. Chennai traffic is as bad as any other metro today. The cops were messing it up further by catching two-wheeler riders without helmets. Apparently, the rule had come into force on that day itself. Helmets costing 300 rupees were being sold, said my driver Kartik, for as much as 1000. Someone was making a killing, but I still think, 1000 rupees are cheaper than a fractured skull. And these dorks had enough time to buy it earlier. Why did they wait till the last day? Anyway, screw them, they were messing up the traffic and I was getting late.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
On the way to the airport, I realised that again, I hadnt really explored the city. I have visited Chennai often, but havent stayed to do the tourist rounds. Must take some time out for that. Lining the road on either side was a forest of billboards. I have never seen as many in any other city. They told a story of their own. I could make out that new film stars were making inroads as oldies like Kamalahsan & Vijaykant were nowhere to be seen. Rajnikant was still holding on as his new movie, Sivaji the boss was splashed all over. New faces like Madhavan, Kartik, Vikram, etc were seen too. Apart from this were the products looming all over.
But what took the cake were the political posters. The considerable lady from Poes Garden, Jayalalithaa was totally absent. (Even the extra numerological a hadnt helped) A newcomer to this place would be hard put to recognise her, so clean has been the sweep. All you can see is the present CM, Karunanidhi laughing, smiling, waving, walking, dancingokay, not dancing, but definitely all the rest. They also tell you that he has chosen Stalin, his son as his heir apparent, because Stalin is seen sharing space on the billboards with his Dad. Some of them have sepia-toned or B/W snaps of the father beside his sons visage. The message is obvious, even to me - a novice to TN politics. Nepotism is not a fief of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty alone. Incidentally, the DMK symbol is a Rising Sun. Here too, a Son was rising.
Copyright B.S.Keshav 2007
After we crossed Saidapet, traffic got better and we zipped past Guindy to the Kamaraj airport, well in time. Actually I liked it better when it was called Meenambakkam. Why do they keep renaming things? Palam. SantaCruz, Dum Dum & Begumpet sound so much better than Indira Gandhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Netaji Subhash & N T Ramarao at least for airports. The damn thing is an epidemic. Even if you cant make anything, you can easily rename it, seems to be the motto
