tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-140291972024-03-07T10:19:06.025+05:30Vincent's JottingsVincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.comBlogger406125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-39428054318706952952023-06-07T19:28:00.001+05:302023-06-07T19:28:11.439+05:30Let's Support Our Students at Admission time<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI1yZnEgGkCWeJZW0O32KL_e8COl9WwcqBJT-QJdf1Er7t47lLfrmQhsZ6jyAqrRgTFl3Gk96hWqnpQwAG4XAoARo5QJEb931qKaBQxvt4xr-L0iKh-6ayw2BhTyP89PHHjQ2lOby-sXGt7_UjBO5az8ffZr2yu5YU8cdfN87V4f4qZm6ppg/s640/ef77005d-91ac-41ed-abff-bb1ad7839543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="640" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI1yZnEgGkCWeJZW0O32KL_e8COl9WwcqBJT-QJdf1Er7t47lLfrmQhsZ6jyAqrRgTFl3Gk96hWqnpQwAG4XAoARo5QJEb931qKaBQxvt4xr-L0iKh-6ayw2BhTyP89PHHjQ2lOby-sXGt7_UjBO5az8ffZr2yu5YU8cdfN87V4f4qZm6ppg/w520-h392/ef77005d-91ac-41ed-abff-bb1ad7839543.JPG" width="520" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;">Anusuya had mailed our Editorial team.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Class 10 student of a girls school in Mylapore zone had a clarification to make.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">We had posted online ( at <a href="http://www.mylaporetimes.com">www.mylaporetimes.com</a>), a report on the toppers in the Plus Two exams in this school. A report from a trainee.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Anusuya said what was attributed to her was not entirely right.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And she explained when I, as the editor, called her back to understand the situation. She did not entirely disagree with what we had written but she said what she had highlighted was not found in the report.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Her story - that despite financial hurdles, her mother had done all she could to see her focused on the exams so she could score high. Which she did; she was the topper in her school. We agreed to her point, realising there were some sensitive elements to respect, and corrected the online report.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I got chatting further with this girl. She was keen to pursue a course in Commerce or Corporate Secretaryship. She had applied to one of the city’s top women’s college and had not found her name in the first admission list. She was slightly anxious now. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">She had also applied to another private college and it had sought a stiff donation which the family couldn’t afford.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">As we chatted I realised that many girls and boys from economically poor and first-generation learners needed counselling and skilling to deal with the real world where merit alone will not get them a seat. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Misplaced notions and dependence on big loans to fund their studies are fueled by the hope that some magic would happen later. Perhaps they could study at a state-run college where the fees were affordable and expand their study and hands-on skills on the side . . .</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It is that time of the year when the Mylapore Times Charitable Trust entertains applications from students like Anusuya. To help them.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Trust, active for over 20 years now, can support at least 25 students who do well in Std.10 and in Plus Two exams and get admitted to the next level and are keen to make a mark. Every bit of help is deeply felt by the beneficiary.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">If the applicant has great intent and capacity, the Trust tries to meet him/her half-way. Education is costly in the marketplace.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But the Trust wants to be that drop in the ocean that can impact. And it manages to do its bit because it gets donations not only from large-hearted Mylaporean but well-wishers from outside the neighbourhood.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And, the <i>Mylapore Times </i>newspaper also makes a handsome donation - from the profits of the previous year. It has done so for over two decades.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Your kind act is welcome now. Neighbours help neighbours. Please talk to our manager Shanthi at 044-2498 2244.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-32507849180531682172023-05-27T10:41:00.001+05:302023-05-27T10:41:38.676+05:30Dogs. OK in Apartments? But who will scoop the poop on the street?<p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsoJ1GGaRB4baY9I2WfcELtwencnCrCNmnVZUjv8IawpHzRjMXVPSC8CvS2H0jk89MVjb-a_JFDe34MNqOg6dTk3X4p7J14SxSqVb1zOzdEqiG4EqpcZWAMJ1MI2VCVGiiswC4OnZrcSXkuweTNljflwtrRZs703m4Qc2Gon735IDjnV_nw/s852/DOG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="852" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsoJ1GGaRB4baY9I2WfcELtwencnCrCNmnVZUjv8IawpHzRjMXVPSC8CvS2H0jk89MVjb-a_JFDe34MNqOg6dTk3X4p7J14SxSqVb1zOzdEqiG4EqpcZWAMJ1MI2VCVGiiswC4OnZrcSXkuweTNljflwtrRZs703m4Qc2Gon735IDjnV_nw/w393-h273/DOG.jpg" width="393" /></a></div><br /><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Dogs. I used to be afraid of them. Then, I got wary and found my way away from them.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Then I let sleeping dogs lie and licking dogs lick.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But I still am not a warm dog-friendly person. In the sense, I don’t rub their necks or take them into my lap.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I did not have pets when I was a kid. My pets were newspapers and magazines. They got all my attention.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And then, this happened.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">In my freelance days, I often returned home late. Home was then deep inside Pallavaram, then the suburbs on the south side.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Not that I worked late but late evening was the time to catch up with the mainstream journalists.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I’d take the electric train and then walk.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Now, there was this section of the unpaved main road which ran down and curved into the last lap of my journey home.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One moon-lit evening, a dog began to bark and I slowed down.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It came up to me slowly and barked.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I paused and walked on the edge of the rough road.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The dog got aggressive and I began to sweat a bit.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There was nobody around. I picked up a stone and flung it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The dog barked and then slipped into a dark plot.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Then on, whenever I was walking here past the 10 p.m. hour, that very dog would be at its post and bark on seeing me.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Well, with my thick beard and locks of thick hair, that dog had every reason to treat me a suspect!</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I recalled this ‘dog’ anecdote when I observed closely, the Rental Classifieds in <a href="http://www.mylaporetimes.com">Mylapore Times</a>. Increasingly, owners of flats opting to rent them out are mentioning the ‘pets/dogs’ rule - the flat cannot accommodate a dog or the block is a pet-friendly one.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I have come across people sharing their tales on both sides of the issue. And I wonder if the city’s civic body is studying lifestyles where many people, not just the rich and landed, are now rearing pets and putting some good money into it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So does the Chennai Corporation have to discuss regulations on keeping pets in residential quarters or is this an issue for some other state body?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am aware that the issue of owners clearing dog poop themselves when they are out on a morning walk is severe but neither pet-owners are bothered nor are ward councillors debating this issue in the city council. Anyway, laying drains still tops their agenda.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This morning, I must have counted at least a dozen dogs on walks in the 20 minutes I was taking in some fresh air in this stifling summer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Meanwhile, if I am a guest at your place and you have a dog, just warn me and make the right noises. Put me at ease. You cannot but love dogs.</span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-46218267463898730052023-05-21T10:40:00.003+05:302023-05-21T10:40:44.670+05:30Discovering my own Malgudi. And encouraging teens to write.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkP32HFEIN_VlsIb46T4VddOkIdfCokJLNCUNCVZl6kVyev1FULGzbbGWI8Hp16SQAbXibRB4_sYtgIAU9G-QY-kLTlwfb0Tbc5zXNYwxEwP0ZmD0IJaTkJcPlwo1TnkL7oh7RpFtrCWBaQExN22hUgSbV0ztHTFDOeU5aLevHU-85MRGGpA/s640/IMG_4164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="443" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkP32HFEIN_VlsIb46T4VddOkIdfCokJLNCUNCVZl6kVyev1FULGzbbGWI8Hp16SQAbXibRB4_sYtgIAU9G-QY-kLTlwfb0Tbc5zXNYwxEwP0ZmD0IJaTkJcPlwo1TnkL7oh7RpFtrCWBaQExN22hUgSbV0ztHTFDOeU5aLevHU-85MRGGpA/w332-h443/IMG_4164.jpg" width="332" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"> I discovered my own Malgudi in recent times. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;">In a biggish village in south Kanara.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;">On the trips that I make to that spot along the west coast, the local bus station is my hang-out. I need to buy my daily newspapers there, that is if the few that are supplied don’t run out. I can sit here and sip a cup of tea and just look long. Even blankly.<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I noticed an old post box tied to the pillar of the bus station office. Thoughts floated in me. Maybe I could walk up to the local post office which was also in that zone, buy some inland letters and write randomly to friends whose addresses I had on record. Or amble to the weekly 'sandhai' ( market) and wander from shop to shop - red chillies, greens, lemons, melons, tamarind and jaggery . .</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Just write what I saw in my Malgudi.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I got talking to the drivers of the local auto stand. They had many little stories to share but they would bolt the moment they got a customer. More later, they would say.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I would ask them - but why aren’t there any autos in this place after seven in the evening?</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Nobody needs autos and buses then, one said.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Another half-smiled.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">We too need a break, he chimed.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Some of them would meet at the watering hole on the edge of the bus station. Order their tetra-packed drinks, lick the freshly-made mango pickle and zoom home after an hour of unwinding.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I have notes for a little book now!</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I carry my Pigma Micron pens with me since I have begun to doodle.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">In the mood, I pulled out a pen and tried to draw the bus station scene before me. Rows of buses with fancy, colourful legends stuck to their sides.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I felt good on that afternoon in early May.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">At <i>Mylapore Times</i>, we launched the Online Magazine for young people last weekend. We have been doing this for a year or two now. Since our neighbourhood teens are on a big break and some creative souls may want others to read, admire and react to their work, we want students to contribute their poems and short, real short stories, artworks and cartoons, anecdotes and essays, short essays may they be, to this Magazine.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">On the weekend, we received two contributions. One from a student of Vidya Mandir: she has already published a book and it is sold online. The other, from a Sivaswami Kalalaya student, who showcased her ‘animated’ art.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Both are posted online - at the Magazine link at <a href="http://www.mylaporetimes.com">www.mylaporetimes.com</a></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">You have three weeks to send your creative work to us.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The details of what you can do and how you must send it are all there, online.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am sure all of you who write well, or paint or doodle, or are poets in the making. Or even jot down scenes of your holiday or of life around you. All this and more can find a place in this Magazine.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It feels good to be published. To be read by people.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Start young; start now. Our weekly neighbourhood newspaper is offering you the platform.</span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-51637462159450695932023-05-15T17:04:00.001+05:302023-05-15T17:04:35.397+05:30This summer, our Journalism workshop flopped. But one soul is striving . . .<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCPq2ord2qCoqHngzzwbAG31sXjNjpa7I8Qgi77y8g4bPeiPItsYOKFPXmnGBGkw4emDhVvu7k3VehwAWwPEiuy02cat5Thft6MHMm-iFFmVV-TwMhoQiDstUwhemKcZW-l478qXHeDe9rDjPVcWE4ravPdje3CFuf2WxVmoPlYdU-dbrrzw/s717/MT%20J%20WKSHOP%202015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="717" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCPq2ord2qCoqHngzzwbAG31sXjNjpa7I8Qgi77y8g4bPeiPItsYOKFPXmnGBGkw4emDhVvu7k3VehwAWwPEiuy02cat5Thft6MHMm-iFFmVV-TwMhoQiDstUwhemKcZW-l478qXHeDe9rDjPVcWE4ravPdje3CFuf2WxVmoPlYdU-dbrrzw/w547-h365/MT%20J%20WKSHOP%202015.jpg" width="547" /></a></div><br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;">After a great run, a whimper. That is how our newspaper’s summertime Journalism workshop for children ended this season.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But let us look at the sunny side. The one bright spot.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">M. O. P. Vaishnav student Smurthy Mahesh, who promised to sign up with our newspaper for her internship this season, kept her word on May 2. Her first call -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>report on the condition of a playground near her home in Mandaveli. She was not even aware of it, leave alone know its location. Prodded on, she trudged on, located the space and threw up her hands.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“There are some puddles of water after the rain,” she called back.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Talk to the youths there,” we advised her.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">She stuck on.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And mailed back a little news story.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Her next assignment was to write on a newly-opened ‘Wellness Centre’ of the civic body, again close to her residence. She lost her way, despite using Google Maps. We did not let her off the hook. She was game.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">She located the place but the doors were shut. “Ask around,” we told her. She did and drew a blank. “Go there tomorrow,” we told her. She went but the doors were shut. She was enterprising. She trudged around the San Thome zone and located a summer camp that was on and wrote on it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Now you are on your own,” we told her.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">She took up the challenge. And wrote on the birds that have fun inside the Tholkappia Poonga every morning.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Redo the story, you have got some facts wrong,” we advised her. She revised it and improved.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The last I heard from her was from San Thome again. Trying to pin down a coach at a football camp.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But six others, all from high school fell by the wayside. Days after we started the workshop. One gave up in 24 hours. Two others sought leave for personal functions. One who showed promise also faded. We called it a day, early. There was no time to waste, on both sides.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Cut to 2015. We rounded up that year’s Journalism course with a tough field assignment. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One group, a trio, set off to the seaside Nochikuppam zone, the one which has been in the news now - because of the Marina Loop Road case. Then, the families vacated from the run-down tenements had been forced to live in tin shacks on the swathe of sandy land and the civic conditions weren’t good at all.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The trio had to talk to the families, the kids there and report the situation. The young ones worked, gamely.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This week, the parent of one of trio, sent me a social media post of that assignment.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Children are laboured in our schools. A majority hardly have a feel of real-life, not even of their neighbourhoods. Parents to blame too.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Journalism teaches lots of skills for life.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">If we can teach these to a few neighbourhood teens, through our newspaper, we have shared.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i>- Photo used here, courtesy Rajagopalan V., is of the trio at the 2015 workshop</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">(( )) WHATSAPP your comments on the theme of this column to Mylapore Times<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>: </span><span style="color: red;">8015005628</span></i></span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-43353404123463550782023-05-15T16:53:00.001+05:302023-05-15T16:53:07.410+05:30Summer Hols: How about community work? Locally.<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlaAYy3edqzJk6fqeGLbxk4JRG_cmS8jriiCjY-zY_D7jM8nLWsE9p2yhka_oDFg7iVI3L91agjHs8HOiPHjutoNZrePp2WmHppwx_X_kPxims5fwxER8tT7uJFp2P2-F6IKspyEMv9_HJA6zhdXEpIa5Rn5S56DoPsnL9lnkVXQP5Q7kwyQ/s992/MT%20BIRDS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="992" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlaAYy3edqzJk6fqeGLbxk4JRG_cmS8jriiCjY-zY_D7jM8nLWsE9p2yhka_oDFg7iVI3L91agjHs8HOiPHjutoNZrePp2WmHppwx_X_kPxims5fwxER8tT7uJFp2P2-F6IKspyEMv9_HJA6zhdXEpIa5Rn5S56DoPsnL9lnkVXQP5Q7kwyQ/w583-h328/MT%20BIRDS.jpg" width="583" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><p><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><br /></span></p>Over two weekends, some cool ones, we chose to do some personal community work.</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I was invited and said ‘yes’.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The goal was to give a new look to a sprawling sand and vegetation plot of land my friends owned not far from the city.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Work would be in two sessions - 6 to 8.30 am. And 4.30 to 6 p.m.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am not a hard-labour person. Nor am I good at using all kinds of tools.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But my group knew how best to use my little talent.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">They made me the landscape artiste!</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">A green hedge was planned and okayed. And knowing well how good ‘paper rose’, the common name for bougainvillea, is for creating what was wanted, we went shopping at a nursery. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I mixed up the magenta, orange, red, white and the hybrid, carted some 30 saplings at 15 rupees each and got them planted in a slight zig-zag line. On the second weekend of our community work, some paper roses were blooming, proud in the April sunshine.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This summer, when the kids are having their annual holidays, are you choosing to allot a few days to a domestic project?</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This could be at home, for your apartments’ campus or as part of a community outreach project.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Greening the interior of your home with plants can be one idea to work on.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Now this is not about picking up some potted plants and plonking them on a window sill or kitchen ledge. It is about sitting down and making plans, debating them and making a list. There’s some joy in doing this over a nice tiffin spread!</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">You then go shopping to the nursery and execute it over a couple of hours.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Greening and colouring the exterior walls of your apartment campus is another holiday activity. This transforms the drabness of a colony.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Again, organise a meeting of youth and seniors to make plans; enlist the creative souls in the group; shop for paint and brushes and crop plants in the campus that will grow outside too. And then, one weekend for the hands-on work.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Outreach is also an engaging activity. As is volunteering.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There are many organisations around you who will welcome your ideas and hands. Perhaps, colouring the wall of the civic body-managed local primary school.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Or de-weeding operations at the local park. Or re-setting a private library.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Top of this week, when I was bouncing some field assignment ideas on school children, we found that three out of five in this group had not stepped into Tholkappia Poonga ( Adyar Poonga). I have gently nudged them to spend a weekend there.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One of them then shared this piece of volunteering news - that Sri Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore welcomes hands at its library, health centre and its campus this summer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Go for it!</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;">- <i>Photo courtesy: Smruthy Mahesh</i></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-83647188743553902522023-04-29T13:20:00.001+05:302023-04-29T13:20:18.033+05:30How Best to pay Tributes to people like Randor Guy?<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBA6HmxrYF_IM-EfVxR9NMkt9hdlmW_NOYvZKKbSgUKDJhtSCQny3mhv6eiM-pLUNUgPGIuXL9iIm5adG_QjJsmkuyhZMJ902oYuc8C3xE3Xc2SFaIm_okDAvsYiKSoUVbomjGjfdB0y7FBhfn1DfPOqlbsH_m-sOn2oFIqfrfq-JAMiIl7A/s430/342879549_618221143496259_2111164879837495159_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="360" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBA6HmxrYF_IM-EfVxR9NMkt9hdlmW_NOYvZKKbSgUKDJhtSCQny3mhv6eiM-pLUNUgPGIuXL9iIm5adG_QjJsmkuyhZMJ902oYuc8C3xE3Xc2SFaIm_okDAvsYiKSoUVbomjGjfdB0y7FBhfn1DfPOqlbsH_m-sOn2oFIqfrfq-JAMiIl7A/w305-h364/342879549_618221143496259_2111164879837495159_n.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>'<i style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;">Other famed dramatists who staged plays at Rasika Ranjani Sabha ( in Mylapore) were Dr. V. Ramamurthi and V. Seshadri.</i></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i>‘Dr. Ramamurthi, with his impressive physique, singing skills and acting talents was a popular resident of Mylapore and son-in-law of V. C. Gopalratnam. He excelled in roles in historical plays and built up great fame in plays like ‘Sivakamiyin Sabatham’ and ‘Parthiban Kanavu’. Ramamurthi also led bhajan groups around the Mada Streets during margazhi.</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i>V. Seshadri, fair and handsome, was a lawyer and son-in-law of one of the greatest lawyers of Madras, K. Raja Iyer. Seshadri donned female roles and for this reason, V. C. Gopalratnam called him an actress!</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">These are the concluding paras of one of the early parts of a column titled ‘Mylapore Musings’ published in Mylapore Times in the 1995/’97 period. There were some 180-plus parts.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The column was written by Randor Guy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Madras’ well-known story teller and historian passed way last Sunday. He slipped away peacefully in the arms of caring nuns off the East Coast Road.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Randor was prodigious in his writings, be it on cinema, the legal world and on crime in the Madras Presidency and later. Mylapore was his favourite chomping ground. So when <i>Mylapore Times</i> came of age, he was keen to write a column for us. And my former colleague at the desk, Raji Muthukrishnan, co-ordinated Randor’s contribution.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">He wanted to be published all over. And he valued the income; freelance writers are still paid small. But he respected even junior journalists and he was great company too.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And all that he wrote and collected was valuable.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">His daughter Priya, a Mylaporean, told me that the Film Institute in Pune had recently collected all the books, cassettes, CDs, papers, clippings and stuff at his Ayanavaram residence and it had dedicated this collection to Randor in its archives. Even the Carnatic music tapes of vintage artistes got in there.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This showcase is one way of celebrating a wonderful person. For all men and women of our city who have made signal contributions, what else can we do?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A bit more?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Can we not have an informal group of citizens who host a Tribute meeting, open to all, for all these men and women when they say good-bye? Perhaps have this meeting at a venue that offers itself for this unique purpose?</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Can we have a two-member team that can post the life and work of all these people online so the record survives long, long after the cremation and decades roll by; because while we may have on Wiki and elsewhere, the records of the rich and famous and decorated, where would you find a Tribute to Madras’ first set of restaurateurs or city league cricket stars or feted school Heads?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">I would love to get your suggestions here!</span></span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-25389726416694489252023-04-22T11:21:00.005+05:302023-04-22T11:21:57.717+05:30Did you say 'Good Morning' to Thatha on his Walk?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEhFhZdaDBIYbeoiKWU3AGrLdPAyEbrg8U4sZoxxMpDm0seLHenn2tD71JJBk06cp4USr_8WA4vjrtK3796T11ElMzvEA-rDokxNQmJh1IwSZohkEOI0BLwHHd-M6vsJLDTUF2fM3S_qBmkipz8JVg3-IDXD94GA8LbQYWuPs5dAKJ9FOIYg/s1078/340846893_194548683345355_9188044810055620192_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="750" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEhFhZdaDBIYbeoiKWU3AGrLdPAyEbrg8U4sZoxxMpDm0seLHenn2tD71JJBk06cp4USr_8WA4vjrtK3796T11ElMzvEA-rDokxNQmJh1IwSZohkEOI0BLwHHd-M6vsJLDTUF2fM3S_qBmkipz8JVg3-IDXD94GA8LbQYWuPs5dAKJ9FOIYg/w301-h432/340846893_194548683345355_9188044810055620192_n.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;">Father L. Balaswamy rests in the graveyard now.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This is a quiet place in the campus of the church in Luz.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When I spoke to him many weeks ago, he was exhausted from the long hours at a hospital’s dialysis unit. A donor kidney didn’t come his way.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I couldn’t suggest a meeting. Not in the physical and mental condition he was in.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This Catholic priest of the Madras-Mylapore diocese had retired after some five decades of service. Retired to the quiet Vianney Home in San Thome.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I should have met him then. The conversations on the phone were not enough.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Personal meets would have also relaxed him.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am not the kind of person who visits graveyards, places some flowers on graves of people I know and sit and talk to them.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Though I may visit Balaswamy’s grave when I am in Luz the next time. Graveyards are really quiet spaces.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Balaswamy was the parish priest of our church zone where we used to reside, off Mount Road. Those are faint memories. We re-connected after he retired; and spoke long. I was keen to understand local church history and he had loads and loads of stories and less-known facts to share.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Oftentimes, retired people enjoy story-telling - when they have people to listen to them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Perhaps, they also enjoy the company. And time is spent usefully.</p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">My co-traveller who is no more, D. Hemchandra Rao would light up at the suggestion of a road trip. He would do his home-work for the trip and bounce it on me and off we went. To all corners of India’s coast - as he documented light houses.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">It took some time for the vibes to set right.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Understanding seniors is key to a fruitful relationship.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Rao was old school; he marked time for refreshments, washroom calls and checking into hotels to call it a day.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Once the vibes got strong, Rao was ready for any road trip - to the Natyanjali dance circuits in Tamil Nadu to a cultural festival in coastal Karnataka’s Honnavar.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There are lots of seniors living amidst us. And they need some warmth and conversation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Even a ‘Hello, g</span>ood morning!’ as they take baby steps on a morning walk, can light them up, make them smile.</p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><< <i>Photo used here is of Fr. Balaswamy.</i></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-59605498992285454512023-04-13T12:13:00.000+05:302023-04-13T12:13:02.186+05:30This Summer, send your Kids to Work at a Mylapore store. Or train with scientists off Adyar estuary.<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBR-IRdsMrYP2iQDbRv4X5zCpXF80ahp2eKKV_9_PxofeETEwLb7PF9Uz1JG9KAN7UwpIkr_fc27faOE818nMZJM2an6xgfbFoMcRB-rHob71BOaxGZYL8zv-jyqL06eLBIFW01EWFKX4keQ6IjKgZHwuJMDQ6yxaMT_bYNsPOnEqXY5IDQ/s1024/6d66f18d-2037-44d1-9132-38f01d364401.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBR-IRdsMrYP2iQDbRv4X5zCpXF80ahp2eKKV_9_PxofeETEwLb7PF9Uz1JG9KAN7UwpIkr_fc27faOE818nMZJM2an6xgfbFoMcRB-rHob71BOaxGZYL8zv-jyqL06eLBIFW01EWFKX4keQ6IjKgZHwuJMDQ6yxaMT_bYNsPOnEqXY5IDQ/w477-h358/6d66f18d-2037-44d1-9132-38f01d364401.JPG" width="477" /></a></div><br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 39.5px;">We know this. Our children need all those lessons and lectures in the classroom.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But the hands-on training is priceless.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Summer time holidays can be learning and earning time.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">In school, Dad invited me to a fortnight’s work at his company’s godown of medicines. Pasting stickers on bottles. It got me some pocket money. I also learnt how to interact with contract labour. Lessons that held well when I ran my business.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">In college, training at a rag of a weekly newspaper, my Ed sent me down to the print shop floor. Two lessons learnt - the mental outlook of press staff and the ideas that the pre-press team had about layouts suggested by the Ed.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And just after college, at The Indian Express, assigned to produce the weekly Cinema page, many lessons learnt on the pre-press floor. You allowed the staff to feast on the film stills and then worked hand-in-hand in designing the page. And here, I learnt the importance of ‘white space’ in design - from those veterans.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There are many ways in which our teens can spend some days this May, on hands-on education. For example, turn to some institutions whom we must request to ‘open’.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Can our Mylapore zone colleges let their laboratories be learning zones for seven our ten days for schoolers?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Check in with The Zoological Survey of India, the Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, and The Sanskrit College. Would they admit schoolers to short-term training on campus?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Sign up for some real shop-experience. For all those whose interest is management, finance, accountancy and retail.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Send your sons and daughters to say, Vivek or Giri Trading. Send them to the neighbourhood restaurant or pharmacy. Offer your young one’s services to the local bakery like Winners or a supermarket like White Rose.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Imagine the amazing experience the young ones will have across seven days. The education and the challenges. And perhaps they will also be paid some pocket money! And be give a certificate of experience.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Any sensible educator and employer will appreciate this record of a young one.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This takes me to an anecdote my colleague Parameshwaran shared sometime ago. Walking down a Mylapore inner street, he heeded a ‘Saar!” call; he turned and recognised a youth sitting behind the cash register of a pharmacy. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This boy had attended a course on the basics in computers at a school that Mylapore Times Charitable Trust runs in a local school. He had discontinued studies and his basic skills got him this job.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">What do you think of the ideas I have bounced here? Share your thoughts here!</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="color: red;"><< Photo: Stella Maris College art/design students at Nageswara Rao Park, curating an event</span></i></span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-62632581550818244112023-04-13T12:00:00.003+05:302023-04-13T12:06:01.226+05:30Local Stories: A Cake for Appa<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HzTSBBDIL9vIJp9uP2sgV-dR1UNTiuX-2RKZLCDpQQJTij1lzCOS7V4jKlAB1dEnZR_EFwaCluEIlUOPm441vv5kbIma8yVjqjsDnufAnjeUaI1ZtMAVGPigH3vTAzeDnd3Ivz3iMw7a85uDO0_zu76zMsrlRjWWjwy5qDw0p9Hv2CzeXA/s640/IMG_2674.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HzTSBBDIL9vIJp9uP2sgV-dR1UNTiuX-2RKZLCDpQQJTij1lzCOS7V4jKlAB1dEnZR_EFwaCluEIlUOPm441vv5kbIma8yVjqjsDnufAnjeUaI1ZtMAVGPigH3vTAzeDnd3Ivz3iMw7a85uDO0_zu76zMsrlRjWWjwy5qDw0p9Hv2CzeXA/w295-h393/IMG_2674.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br /><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I started in journalism working in the field.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There were these loosely-strung lessons from my gurus and these were at the desk.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">You did not get distracted even if your Ed bent down to one side, picked up a bottle and took a swig at noon.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Off you go now, would be the order.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And off we went - to the Madras Zoo, Mount Road, Egmore. Looking for stories.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">My second guru had lovely combos - he wrote on cinema and investigated the dark.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">V. Shekhar took me on his film studio rounds. I just had to hang close to him and he went about chatting between deep smokes. He never took notes. But soaked in everything to pen columns for ‘Star & Style’.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When I began to write on cinema - just the news - one of my first copies was on actor Silk Smitha. It got published in ‘Sun’ magazine.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">42 years in this profession and I still work in the field. This is where the real stories are.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">And like V. Shekhar, I have been blessed with lovely combos - coverage of the neighbourhood, and assignments across the country.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So when I walk around the Mylapore neighbourhood, I talk to people. And they tell me their stories. Even if they do not know who I am. They talk.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Recently, I dropped in at Winners Bakery in Alwarpet, opposite our office: for a bite.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I spotted three Chennai School boys fiddling their fingers.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">They had ordered a cake.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">It was Charan’s dad’s birthday. He is a driver.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">He told me he saved his pocket money to treat his father. Rs.325 was the bill.</span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">The cake arrived. Decorated with ‘Happy Birthday Bhagyaraj’.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">‘Please add Appa there,’ Charan told the baker.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Wish him for me, I told him.</span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s2" style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Your name?, he asked me.</span></p><p class="p5" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 39.5px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Just wish him, I said.</span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-88889384281827187702023-04-05T15:16:00.000+05:302023-04-05T15:16:31.286+05:305 Places to Check Out in Mylapore. This Summer.<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mccCxtl_Jp3BMeUBlXBIxXjtriOcwiVtCXN9bHyasjKjguO9hQGjPmt10npnedkMAkiGM9QTHi3hsyUfk6IOGT5Gh7VfOnoC3pFPR07zksuCzBVQo917BTF2jZD4OdhqzvMytFqVvVW_gNoK0m4200T_IVobpqtWjb7ywUWCYfNUn3pnfQ/s640/MT-POONGA-BRIDGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mccCxtl_Jp3BMeUBlXBIxXjtriOcwiVtCXN9bHyasjKjguO9hQGjPmt10npnedkMAkiGM9QTHi3hsyUfk6IOGT5Gh7VfOnoC3pFPR07zksuCzBVQo917BTF2jZD4OdhqzvMytFqVvVW_gNoK0m4200T_IVobpqtWjb7ywUWCYfNUn3pnfQ/w538-h403/MT-POONGA-BRIDGE.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><br /><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This summer, would you like to take your family and your kids to some less explored places in the Mylapore zone?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Here are a few destinations. Personal recommendations.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">They are not exotic: they are very engaging spaces and some can even surprise you, if you have an open mind.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">- <b>Destination No.1.</b> Has to be the Marina. Take the Marina Loop Road, that runs alongside the Light House and motor some 200 mts south, away from the bustling fish market. The sands here are clean ( thank you GCC), the area quiet. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">If you are curious, trail the fisherfolk as they come home with their catch, clean their nets and sales begin. They can tell you a bit about the fish and of their outing. Some education and some fun.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">- <b>Destination No.2</b> - Tholkappia Poonga / Adyar Poonga. Register online, admission is limited. Explore the rugged terrain, the vegetation, flora and fauna and be surprised by creatures you wouldn’t expect to spot in our city! Tarry by the waterbodies and look for bird life. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Poonga also allows people on long morning Walks, for a small fee. Great place to shoot pictures. More at - https://www.chennairivers.gov.in/</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">- <b>Destination No. 3</b> - Explore the real, old Mylapore. Take a walk starting 6 a.m. from, say the entrance to Mundagakanni Amman Temple road from Kutchery Road, and go into all the small streets and lanes - shrines, tiled-roof houses, kolams, goli-soda carts . . .</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">- <b>Destination No.4</b> - Long Walk off the Marina. To gaze at a grand line-up of vintage buildings and their campuses. Start from the All India Radio end and walk north. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Go as far a your legs take you. Perhaps as far as the PWD headquarters. Best done at 7 am or after 4 p.m.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(6, 6, 6); color: #060606; font-kerning: none;">- <b>Destination No.5</b> - Visit the </span><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Museum of Possibilities, located north of the Vivekananda Memorial and Museum campus on the Marina road. This is a demonstration centre for assistive technology for people with disabilities. And it also offers solutions to seniors who need accessories and home facilities. </span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This is a place that you and I must go to, to be better educated in life, and better our outlook towards less abled and senior citizens. And these lessons start early. Open 11 am to 8 pm ( Tuesday is a holiday). Call 28447297.</span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I have five more to offer. But if this list can motivate you, your family and your children, I would have earned my reward.</span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Where would I pause this summer in this zone?, you ask. If you know me well, it has to be close to water.</span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-67809915532978353402023-03-25T09:22:00.001+05:302023-03-25T09:22:44.910+05:30Give us a good football ground please<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKlXE8HuQvONKPc5LmJEzfp3cN59yK94lkomRwSwbwwoeowDZmseyvl_U_P-UStDOkBN8l7pPXXugDoX9Flmu9Nr6ZyH_pP0PQq_H2ggq51_kSvoMA2MapdwhngfXah3F0qVvyrw0IW_NivB_KUFy_pI_R5IN5FnE4n7tAga2cnkMPNLQo4w/s1280/6d53dffa-ec8a-4991-93ef-ee23c0e5f9c6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKlXE8HuQvONKPc5LmJEzfp3cN59yK94lkomRwSwbwwoeowDZmseyvl_U_P-UStDOkBN8l7pPXXugDoX9Flmu9Nr6ZyH_pP0PQq_H2ggq51_kSvoMA2MapdwhngfXah3F0qVvyrw0IW_NivB_KUFy_pI_R5IN5FnE4n7tAga2cnkMPNLQo4w/w520-h347/6d53dffa-ec8a-4991-93ef-ee23c0e5f9c6.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px;">Tiffin at Sukha Niwas in Luz. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px;">And I was on my way to the release of ‘Lockdown Journal Chennai’, the unique book of stories, essays and notes written by Chennaites during the recent pandemic years. The hawker stalls on the pavement are the poor man’s lifestyle shopping destination. Fascinating.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">It is here that I spotted two youths, locking a cycle. At the head of the street that leads to Pallakumanyam Nagar, a sprawling colony developed decades ago by the TN Slum Clearance Board. The boys wore the Chennai School uniform. And at 6 p.m., I was wondering what they were doing in this place. They had come to shop for footwear.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">We conversed. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">They were 10th Std. students at the school in Alwarpet and the special classes to prepare for the public exam had just got over. </span>We conversed freely. Since I knew a bit about the school and the teachers there, the leads for the chat flowed nicely.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Do you guys play in school? I asked. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">They said a majority of their classmates played football, that the school had only a worn-out basketball court and a volleyball court. They told me the PT master was a bored man. And that they and their friends played as a football team at the Chennai Corporation playground on St. Mary’s Road.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Who decides how the city’s civic body must plan and execute ‘extra’ facilities for a school, or for your Ward, or for your colony? </span>Rarely the people for whom it is meant for.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Later that evening, after the release of </span>‘Lockdown Journal Chennai’ at the vintage Ranade Library in Luz, I spotted this social media post on the page of Greater Chennai Corporation. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">It was a post on a modern, multipurpose ground laid for a Chennai School in MGR Nagar. </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Students can play volleyball, basketball or kabbadi here. And I thought to myself - have GCC officials chatted with students of the Alwarpet school, sought their ideas and planned sports facilities they want today?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Our newspaper has covered the city’s civic body down-top.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> That is, reported on Ward and Zone level conversations, plans and projects. This is the broad style of how things work - councillors meet and present their local issues at the zonal level: then officers weave in key projects that GCC Headquarters wants implemented now, and they nod for minor pleas that keep councillors half-pleased.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Grassroot democracy has been stilted in our city. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A Ward has ten sabhas. Each sabha must chose a member, preferably a representative of the area. This process has been cannibalised in Wards where politicians have a say: civic-minded people are sidelined. When are we going to have area meetings to discuss local issues?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">How will our councillor get to know that his / her area needs a football field for its youths and not flower beds under the flyover this summer? </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">How will GCC officials be told that a recently-relaid playground that minister Udayanidhi Stalin inaugurated is a half-baked, hurried job?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><< The photo featured here is of girls who are coached privately on a ground by the Marina, owned by TN Housing Board.</span></i></span></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-53690424108887485692023-03-20T17:24:00.001+05:302023-03-20T21:21:39.120+05:30Grassroot Community News. Examples in North Chennai.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRjixxv8h5avJVvn9R1qGLRI8uT0aicXO0QXpJSaeP0jJ3817NPc7s9SU5irwW5nkvj_GJZmRXAM_gI9XbAi6g8wFQ6HWShwq9WA2TV7wiqIk7PH67u8wHrkQCNbpTiiBbk2aP5taeTxIz3EEenyd-JrUXbdVXH3CwxYqupvRWwDji0wuqvg/s2048/336362033_549290740637282_5336143552299443119_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRjixxv8h5avJVvn9R1qGLRI8uT0aicXO0QXpJSaeP0jJ3817NPc7s9SU5irwW5nkvj_GJZmRXAM_gI9XbAi6g8wFQ6HWShwq9WA2TV7wiqIk7PH67u8wHrkQCNbpTiiBbk2aP5taeTxIz3EEenyd-JrUXbdVXH3CwxYqupvRWwDji0wuqvg/s320/336362033_549290740637282_5336143552299443119_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><br /></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: -4.6px;">I headed to a North Madras neighbourhood this week. M. R. Nagar was my destination.</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">So we got to Basin Bridge, went past Vyasarpadi, where I was tempted to drop into the legendary campuses run by the Salesian priests, and got into Kavignar Kannadasan Nagar. Beyond is M. R. Nagar. These nagars sit in the Kodungaiyur zone which is known for the massive waste dump yard which had polluted this part of the city for ages.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The neatly laid-out colonies in M. R. Nagar impressed me. I have not studied the plans and growth of these colonies that have done well the past three decades but I may have the opportunity to know how one Reddiar came to own such vast tracts of land, how they got plotted and how people made good of their lives here.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">My guide that afternoon was veteran journalist R. Rajagopal, a man I have known possibly from the years when he was the Ramnad district correspondent for a national newspaper and whom I bumped into regularly while covering, in the late 1980s, the Sri Lankan refugees influx into Tamil Nadu and later, militancy .</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">While going around M. R. Nagar, I noticed these community notice boards at the head of a few streets. One carried wishes for Women’s Day. RR told me that local volunteers took turns to post utility as well as social messages on these boards.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">In this age of WhatsApp and SnapChat, these simple boards also play a role in social, local communication.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Now, let us toss this thought - how can public service as well as civic communication get amplified well in our neighbourhoods.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">How can our voices be heard and respected at the proper levels?</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Let us put aside our stream of plaints on potholed streets and aggressive cattle. Many people have simple, timely and practical ideas to suggest - to make life better. And they would like officials and politicians to consider them.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Today, two issues related to <a href="https://www.mylaporetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/panguni-schedule-2023.jpeg">Sri Kapali Temple’s Panguni utsavam</a> popped up. One; how can smarter regulations for vehicle movement be planned and enforced at utsavam time so people immerse the festival on all days? Can the regulations be publicised early?</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Two: how do we ensure that food/snacks donated freely to devotees, at pandals and doorsteps on the mada streets on Arubathumoovar procession day is not wasted or flung across the streets? How best to streamline this practice?</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">If practical ideas are shared and impressed on officials, some good can come out of community action. My friend, Sanjay Pinto has amplified the traffic regulation suggestions from people, by tagging senior city police officers.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">If we want local issues to be heard and bring good, there are a few smarter ways to highlight and push them. We must be at this. Sincerely.</span></p></div>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-8556985292875219002023-03-11T10:17:00.000+05:302023-03-11T10:17:01.269+05:30'Me and My' Space in Restaurants. You have a Favourite?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbHNMu2fiNBLQ837lL4iZzBLEJmBzzvGRge835BhUbI4aOsjW9PBXvnY3ZoCkKoXHunVdo3Qg_-6WQxUI2rGAsTx_kOPgTswYfXWWJ0WSQFS3-7tukv6yoE1zDwbBe64Rv62IQObZlXuk-KmfHduhq92Qb0u4Bw7K18ptj1YscwSQkOL7SA/s2048/333547348_696483008885815_1729014504095717074_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbHNMu2fiNBLQ837lL4iZzBLEJmBzzvGRge835BhUbI4aOsjW9PBXvnY3ZoCkKoXHunVdo3Qg_-6WQxUI2rGAsTx_kOPgTswYfXWWJ0WSQFS3-7tukv6yoE1zDwbBe64Rv62IQObZlXuk-KmfHduhq92Qb0u4Bw7K18ptj1YscwSQkOL7SA/s320/333547348_696483008885815_1729014504095717074_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: -4.6px;"> How do you like your chutneys?</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; text-indent: -4.6px;"> </span><p></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Pungent? Spicy? Bland? Coconut-y?!</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am at this restaurant at Hotel Maris. I order for a plain dosa. I am served three chutneys with the dosa. The red chutney tastes different and I know it has not been a common serving at this place. </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The steward tells me it is onion and red chillies ground with some garlic and tamarind. </span><span style="text-indent: -4.6px;">I polish it off and ask for a little more. It is served.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">You don’t serve it often, I query the steward.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Depends on the cook’s plans, he tells me.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">This restaurant, in recent times, become my go-to place when I need a snack in the evening or suggest a meet-up with a friend.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">On most evenings, the space is free and you get a table of your choice and you can make this space your own.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The stewards who known you as a regular will not bug you.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I prefer some such spaces where you can, not only snack on some good food but also have time for yourself or meet a friend in the quiet.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">We lost such space on the Marina; I was getting used to it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The cafe below the lawns close to the Gandhi statue. There were two cafes, and the one which offered good coffee and sundal and vadai was my go-to place. </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">You could order, take a table and watch the life on the Marina go by as the sun sank in the west. </span><span style="text-indent: -4.6px;">They are no more. The massive work on Chennai Metro led to the demolition of all these spots.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">I am sure you too have a place you want to go to when you need some time for yourself. Perhaps just do nothing for 20 minutes while you sip a hot cup of coffee or enjoy bajji!</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Yes, there are many new-age cafes that let you be to yourself or gang up with friends. But have you found comfortable spaces even among the restaurants that are often abuzz with diners?</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">In our neighbourhoods, it is good to have these spaces where you enjoy some ‘me’ time the way you want to. There are times when a home does not create such zones. There are places which do not allow people to linger.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 52.5px; text-indent: -4.6px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Parks, playgrounds, places of prayer; perhaps these are places you go to and find some comfort. If you also have cafes on your list, that must be fun.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-34489634670594238552013-09-17T22:12:00.002+05:302013-09-17T22:12:23.663+05:30Books on Madras that is Chennai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Two books have been by my bedside this season.</div>
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Both have to do with our city. To some this city continues to be Madras. To many it is Madras and Chennai. And to others it is Chennai.</div>
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Books, fiction and non-fiction which have all or something to do with our city interest me.</div>
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Timed with the annual <a href="http://themadrasday.in/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Madras Week celebrations</a> which were held in August, were the launch of two books.</div>
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One, on the Anglo-Indians. And the other which called itself a ‘Biography of Madras’.</div>
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The first claims to take a comprehensive look at the Anglo-Indians, from the time the community took root and grew in the sub-continent. This book has been written by historian S. Muthiah with the assistance of Harry Maclure ( who edits ‘The Anglos in the Wind’ magazine) and Richard O’Connor.</div>
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Madras was home to a pretty large A-I community and those of us who attended Christian-managed schools and colleges in the 50s and 60s must have some wonderful memories of our friends. </div>
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Muthiah’s book has many stories to tell and I have been reading it in parts. My grouse with the production is the miserly space provided for the visuals. Most are valuable pictures of an era gone by but they are mere blobs in this book.</div>
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The second book, ‘Degree Coffee by the Yard’ has been written by Nirmala Lakshman of ‘The Hindu’. It carries lots of information which will not be new for those who have read stuff on the city. But Nirmala’s book works for two reasons - her sharing from conversations with a host of people of the city and from her journeys to a few corners of Madras. It also works because Nirmala jots down her own experiences of this city from her early days in what can be called ‘The Hindu’ neighbourhood in Alwarpet.</div>
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I am extremely pleased that Madras/Chennai-centric books are rolling out. And I would be happy too if people began to write on a colourful neighbourhood or on the fascinating history of a local institution. Books which can be of 75 or 110 pages, books with images and verses, books that are not souvenirs and brochure-ish.</div>
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We need these books because the city’s lore must be told and retold. There are lots of people with lots of stories to share - of our city, our of neighbourhoods and of our people who have all made the city what it is.</div>
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I enjoyed reading a small book called ‘ Pelathope Days’ written by G. Ram Mohan. This is a simple story of a nook in Mylapore which was home to legends of the legal community.</div>
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So if you have a story on the city to tell, start rolling it today. </div>
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There are people who would like to read it.</div>
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You can listen to this post at -</div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/books-on-madras-that-is" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/books-on-madras-that-<wbr></wbr>is</a></div>
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Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-21955031152246888252013-09-17T22:11:00.002+05:302013-09-17T22:11:19.273+05:30Social Histories of our schools<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Teachers Day provided me an opportunity to visit the school in Egmore where I studied.</div>
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Though we have not had a strong and active alumni community, a informal group has created linkages with St. Anthony’s and has been involved in a few campus activities.</div>
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Asha Marina who studied here in the 80s leads this group. I had time <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_730680436" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Thursday</span></span> morning, so I joined her and a few others to take part in the Teachers Day celebrations.</div>
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As the students danced to a medley of loud and popular Tamil film songs, roaring to the play of ‘ Kasu Money...’ from the ‘Soodhu Kavum’ film and then got the younger teachers involved in some fun games, I chose to walk around the small campus that was once our second home for 11 years.</div>
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St. Anthony’s is part of the group of schools in India, first started in Madras by the missionary nuns of the Union of Presentation Sisters from Ireland. A small group who were sent from George Towne to Pudupet to look after Anglo-Indian kids, helped to set up this school which celebrated its centenary in 2012-2013.</div>
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Little of the vintage parts of the school remain but then campuses have a way of taking you down a nostalgic path.</div>
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As I walked around I spotted a board outside the Head Mistress Office - it listed the HMs but it was incomplete, starting with the HM of the 50s.</div>
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That small bit of truncated history was a trigger.</div>
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So when we had adjourned to the Teaching Staff Room to meet up with the teachers who work here today, I asked my alumni colleague Jacklin if we could collaborate on a project to document information on the teachers who had served the St Anthony’s community.</div>
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Jacklin showed some interest and went on to feed on my interest in social histories. She could trace five generations of her family who came to be in the heart of Mylapore. Yadava Christians who ran a successful diamonds business that catered to the quiet rich of the city once upon a time.</div>
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Our schools are repositories of a huge and fascinating amount of social history. For obvious reasons.</div>
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Highlighting it in its simplest form could well inspire the present generation of young minds. Visuals and exhibits can attract students and can have an impact on them.</div>
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Recently, during a visit to San Thome School I noticed a simple painted note on the landing of a floor which listed a short history of this school, also started to cater to orphans and Anglo-Indians.</div>
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A Teachers Day initiative for our local schools could be a document on all the teachers who made the school what it is today.</div>
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You can listen to this piece at -</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/social-histories-of-our" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/social-histories-of-<wbr></wbr>our</a></div>
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Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-23548441236244512142013-09-17T22:09:00.004+05:302013-09-17T22:09:43.331+05:30Town Hall - like spaces for Chennai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Three weeks ago, we had a call at our <a href="http://arcotroadtimes.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Arcot Road Times</a> newspaper office. A lady wanted to come over and meet me.</div>
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She was keen to ensure that she could meet me personally for, she wanted to hand over a small packet of vegetables.</div>
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She had packed a small quantity of beans and Lady’s Fingers for me.</div>
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This little pack was Uma Devi Jayaraman’s way of saying thank you for a feature we had published on her wonderful garden in Virugambakkam.</div>
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Uma Devi and her husband Jayaraman live in what is a green, leafy colony called Lambert Nagar, off the busy Arcot Road. Well laid out and sporting lots of trees and a kuttai at its far end, this Nagar is certainly a prized residential locality in this part of Chennai.</div>
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Each plot is large and there are green spaces all around the independent houses that still survive the growing onslaught of real estate developers keen to build apartments.</div>
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The Jayaramans.though seem to have made good use of their open space at home. Uma Devi has, over the years put her green thumb to good use. With the children settled in life she has paid lots of attention to her garden. She attends workshops on urban gardening and spends time at the Agri-Horticultural Society’s campus on Cathedral Road to shop for seeds and look at the saplings in the nursery here.</div>
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Today, the Jayaramans’ garden is a treat for the eyes. And it sports a variety of vegetable-bearing plants.</div>
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So when we got to hear of this green effort we decided to run a story on the lady and her passion.</div>
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That week, when the feature appeared in the local newspaper we got another call. This was from a couple who not only had a nice garden but also followed simple and varied methods at recycling garden and kitchen waste.</div>
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These are some of the stories we like to report in our newspapers all the time. They are a way of recognising the positive efforts that ordinary people make in our backyard. And they also trigger positive reactions among some readers.</div>
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When we come across such stories, I wonder if our neighbourhoods could have a Town Hall-type of spaces which can be used for a variety of events. Spaces at parks or community halls or nooks in our schools.</div>
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One meeting can be on kitchen gardening; green thumbs can share their experiences, conduct demos and make new contacts.</div>
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Another month’s event could be on recycling and reuse methods that families may be adopting for good measure.</div>
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A third could be on traditional snacks. And another meet can even be readings of extracts from just-released books that 5 people have read recently and wish to talk about so that others may also want to lay their hands on them. And another for a garage sale-like event to dispose books,</div>
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white goods and stuff. Create one space for a variety of acts that interests a particular neighbourhood. For simple, informal events that thread the community.</div>
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Listen to this post at -</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/town-hall-like-spaces-for" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/town-hall-like-<wbr></wbr>spaces-for</a></div>
</div>
Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-16001119818594275212013-09-17T22:08:00.001+05:302013-09-17T22:08:10.477+05:30Madras for our kids<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A slow early evening walk on the promenade of Marina Beach can be an interesting exercise in ‘man watching’. If you have the time to slow down and see.</div>
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On Sunday evening last, at about <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_730680434" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">4.30 p.m.</span></span> I was opposite the Presidency College, keen to observe one of many Madras Week events.</div>
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Revathi R. who is the person behind the <a href="http://yocee.in/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Yocee</a> website for children had promoted this event which would end with children participants creating a scrapbook.</div>
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Even at that early evening hour, there were thousands of people on the Marina’s sands and hundreds kept pouring in, from the subway, the roads and from elsewhere.</div>
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A small bunch of children and their guardians had assembled at the base of the statue of Kannagi for the Madras Week event.</div>
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The intent was to get the kids to walk southwards to every statue, which was erected on the Marina by a previous DMK government in connection with the World Tamil Conference in 1968.</div>
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Resource-person Krishma Shankar would tell the group short stories on the person whose statue the kids were looking at and the kids came up with their own stories.</div>
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As the kids hopped from Kannagi to G. U. Pope to Avvaiyar and finally to the Mahatma Gandhi statue created by the famed sculptor D. P. Roy Chowdhury they also took in the façades of the landmark buildings on the western side and of all the activities on the beachside at that time of the day.</div>
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Once the Walk was over, they gathered at the Children’s Club hall on V. M. Street in Mylapore and worked on creating a scrapbook from pre-photographed images of the statues and of the Marina, using light board, paper and thread. When they finally wound up it was <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_730680435" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">8 p.m.</span></span> and none had murmured or yawned.</div>
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I assume that all these children must have learnt something about the people who made history and of the life on the Marina beach. Just imagine the thoughts that a scrapbook of this nature can evoke if the kids preserve it and pick it up again a decade or two later.</div>
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That evening, I felt the immense effect that a simple Walk and a Scrapbook Making Event can have on young minds. I thought of things we could do to get kids to know their city better.</div>
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This edition of Madras Week has seen a small increase in the events meant for children. But there is a need to ideate lots more creative events that can catch their imagination.</div>
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One wishes that the Heads of our city schools include the annual Madras Week season in their school calendar and pay some attention to educating our children on our city.</div>
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Some imagination, thought and initiative can produce great results.</div>
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Listen to this post at -</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/madras-for-our-kids" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/madras-for-our-kids</a></div>
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Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-82621257922486358112013-09-17T22:06:00.003+05:302013-09-17T22:06:36.473+05:30Exploring Fort St. George: Madras Week 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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My next two Sunday mornings will take me to an old and favourite destination - Fort St. George.</div>
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I have a date to keep with the 2013 edition of the Madras Week celebration.</div>
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For some years now, I have made sure that the people of this city who wish to explore its past and its heritage have the pleasure of walking around this Fort.</div>
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Forts are small towns in themselves, with streets and roads, living and working quarters, barracks and stores, ramparts and moats. And with some space for imagination and free spirit, these places can make a very interesting destination.</div>
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And Fort St George has all this and more, its walls, nooks and buildings bouncing off stories that need to be retold.</div>
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A simple, free-wheeling walk around this campus by itself can be an enjoyable exercise.</div>
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Gazing at the cold cannons, taking in the Madrasterraced buildings, sitting inside St. Mary’s Church as the pianist plays for a Sunday service, walking to the ends of the many gates on all sides, walking up to the ramparts to take in the environs and sighing at the decaying, massive Kings Barracks that smells of stale rum. . . . .there is a lot to do inside this fort.</div>
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Thanks to the state government’s Public Department, I am permitted to take guests in and make the best in the two hours that we can spend here before the more enthusiastic walkers head to the Fort Museum, another place to discover at leisure.</div>
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Madras Week, which celebrates the founding of this city has provided a window for some people to explore the city closely and many others to participate in that journey.</div>
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Walks are just part of the many events that will be held from August 18 to 25 and beyond.</div>
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All of them are free and all have been a labour of love and voluntarism.</div>
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Make sure you attend some of these events. This is our city. And it has a history of its own.</div>
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Listen to this post at - </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/exploring-fort-st-george" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/exploring-fort-st-<wbr></wbr>george</a></div>
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Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-81940951082268248582013-09-17T22:05:00.001+05:302013-09-17T22:05:17.447+05:30Ramzan, Christmas, Deepavali: no more sharing?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Twice a year, my friend S. Anwar invites me over for lunch at his home in Royapettah. Both calls come on the eve of festivals. And rarely do I skip these dates.</div>
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So <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_730680432" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Thursday</span></span> night, Anwar called to invite me over on the occasion of Ramzan.</div>
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There are two reasons why I try not to miss this invitation.</div>
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One, we get to feast on some wonderful biryani that is prepared by traditional cooks specially for the occasion. And served on the ‘elai’, are at least two traditional side-dishes which are unique to this part of the country.</div>
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Also, the lunch is an occasion to make new friends and say hello to those whom we seem to meet only at Anwar’s dining table! Advocates, journalists,</div>
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activists, photographers, artistes . . . .we meet all kinds of people and let the lazy lunch end in long conversations.</div>
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A professional photographer and a historian who has given much time to documenting the life and times of his community in Tamil Nadu, Anwar makes sure that friends gather around the table at festival time.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_730680433" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">On Friday</span></span>, another friend wished me for Ramzan.</div>
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Vimala Padmaraj is a longtime resident of Leith Castle area in San Thome, She is an active member of the Saint Thomas Cathedral community and also likes to connect with families in her neighbourhood.</div>
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Vimala said that she and her daughter had begun preparing to make biryani on the occasion of Ramzan and would have lunch along with a few close friends. </div>
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That took our conversation to a different plane - had the practice of sharing the joys of a festival with our neighbours become a thing of the past?</div>
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Vimala told me of times when she would pack pieces of cake, kul-kuls and rose cookies and send them to her neighbours on Christmas morning. And that she would pick up little toys in George Town to be given as Christmas gifts to the kids who lived down the street.</div>
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And of times when, the nieghbours would send her a box of sweets at Deepavali time or a plate of hot and spicy mutton biryani for Bakrid.</div>
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We seem to have forgotten some simple and warm gestures we made to families in our neighbourhood.</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Listen to this post at -</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/id-christmas-and-deepavali-no" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/id-christmas-and-<wbr></wbr>deepavali-no</a></div>
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Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-10767911858463387622013-09-17T22:03:00.001+05:302013-09-17T22:03:21.026+05:30A Trip to north Madras<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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How many of us would have walked down by the side of an old bridge in our area and taken a close look at the architecture that is best seen from the other side?</div>
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My friend Hemachandra Rao, a civil engineer and heritage enthusiast has spent the past two years taking a close look at bridges of our city built over a hundred years ago and still in service.</div>
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He has stopped at Chintadripet, Central Station and Basin Bridge among many other places, walked into slush and doubled across garbage piles to document what appears to be his current fascination.</div>
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Of late, Rao has been spending time at the Tamil Nadu State Archives in Egmore, digging into what were called PC or Public Consultation files trying to get to the very foundation of all the old bridges that the British built for Madras.</div>
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So when we made a trip to some parts of north Madras recently, Rao asked us to slow down at a few places to show me what he had discovered on his earlier journeys, including an old quay off the Canal near Basin Bridge and some massive, decaying godowns in the same vicinity.</div>
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With a man like Rao beside you, you begin to learn more about your city.</div>
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One destination on that trip was Erukkenchery, a 15-minute drive from Basin Bridge on a day when the roads seemed to be empty.</div>
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We headed to St. Joseph’s School located in a large plot of land bounded by small and tightly-knit colonies with roads that were more lanes.</div>
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We were here to explore ways in which a few communities could get involved in the Madras Week celebrations ( <a href="http://www.themadrasday.in/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.themadrasday.in</a>).</div>
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Now, Rao and his friends who collect all kinds of things - postage stamps, first-day covers, city magazines in Tamil and English, maps and drawings and gas lights and army badges - are always willing to roll out an exhibition if they find a bright space and warm hosts.</div>
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The past few years, the Rao team has taken its show to a few schools in this part of the city.</div>
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That evening, we asked school principal Father Anthony how his team of senior teachers could supplement a possible exhibition.</div>
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Could we start putting together stuff that told us a bit about Erukkenchery?</div>
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Two teachers piped up. One had lived in the area for about 25 years and the other was a third generation daughter of this soil.</div>
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In minutes we were lending our ears to the snippets of local history, geography and social life.</div>
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O yes, we had a project that could make a nice start.</div>
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We now hope the teachers and student teams will develop some form of record of this area, once a village that had its place in old city records.</div>
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It was a trip well taken.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Listen to this post at -</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/a-trip-to-north-madras" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/a-trip-to-north-<wbr></wbr>madras</a></div>
</div>
Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-73817758329140636272013-09-17T22:01:00.001+05:302013-09-17T22:01:26.669+05:30Gold coins for the garbage segregators<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Did you hear about this buzz of a little prize that our City Fathers are going to offer us soon?</div>
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Now I am not sure if this is just buzz, some wishful thought or some crazy idea that some smart Alagiri has floated.</div>
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I hear that there’s the possibility of winning a gold coin if we do things with our garbage!</div>
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Maybe if we begin to segregate it - kitchen waste goes into a green bucket and plastic and glass and tin into a red bucket - if you recall the civic lessons that the City Fathers have shared with us.</div>
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So how we decide who gets to win a coin, silver or gold or bronze with the Mayor’s signature on it?</div>
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Will it be given to the man or woman in each city Ward who stuffs in the most kilos of hard waste?</div>
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Or will it be given to the person who is smart at recycling it? </div>
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Gold coins can do things to people in the days when our minister is telling us that we must stop our gold-buying sprees.</div>
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But when we are ‘like that only’, the City Fathers may as well give away some gold coins for the best garbage segregator in a zone.</div>
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I suspect this idea is being floated because all the lessons, posters and pleas to citizens seem to have bounced off kitchen tops and landed in the Ramky bins.</div>
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Or possibly because the Mayor still hasn’t found the ideal way to convince people to throw waste into bins and not practice the garbage-flinging sport we seem to be good at.</div>
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Anyway, an element of rewarding civic-conscious people is welcome.</div>
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But it would be nice if the gold coin idea is extended to other civic areas.</div>
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How about a coin for a citizen who acts like the Watchdog of his Ward and logs in all the local headaches at the Corporation’s helpline?</div>
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Lots of people go on unhurried walks and some do so well after the sun is up. Now, they may get a tad excited if their role is recognized.</div>
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And how about a coin for the man or woman who uses his or her green thumb to give the street corner a green and yellow look?</div>
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Our street corners are now dominated by the green and dirty garbage bins which provide a licence for all of us to dump trash, broken pipes and torn pillows, around it.</div>
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With the recent rains, the plants have begun to bloom and a dash of purple and pink dots our green streetsides.</div>
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Surely, a coin will encourage people to green their street corners.</div>
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I am sure you too have ideas to share about rewarding people with coins. Or are you the sort who scoffs at such plans?</div>
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Gold coins or not, is there some way in which we take responsibility for our waste?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Listen to this post at - </div>
<div>
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/gold-coins-for-garbage" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/gold-coins-for-<wbr></wbr>garbage</a></div>
</div>
</div>
Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-64312770228248850192013-09-17T21:59:00.000+05:302013-09-17T21:59:01.557+05:30Editorial specials on the city's civic issues by newspapers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Can newspapers solve your civic problems and mine?</div>
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Surely not.</div>
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Many people assume that the media can create some magic for them, be it at addressing their civic issues, putting the lights on their bright sparks or carrying out local campaigns.</div>
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In recent times, two leading newspapers of our city have been featuring a series on local issues.</div>
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The Hindu has chosen to focus its ‘ My City My Right’ series on ‘Right to Walk’, spreading this coverage across print, online and social media.</div>
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The campaign has also had its marketing plug with ad boards on city buses highlighting the project and in-house adverts being placed prominently in its pages.</div>
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The newspaper has taken a close look at different aspects of our pavement spaces, got people to share pictures and their experiences, quizzed the officers of the civic body and had special columns by its senior editors and specialists.</div>
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Evidently, many readers and community activists have made good use of this series. They have shared pictures of the nasty state of footpaths and spoken to the daily’s reporters on the pressures that seniors living in T. Nagar’s Motilal Street are enduring and of the pavements on TTK Road in Alwarpet being reduced to just 4 inches!</div>
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The Times of India has chosen a bigger spread. It has looked at all kinds of civic issues and projects across the city, put out the results of surveys from all the city wards and zones and told readers if life is better in Velachery and why pollution is more in Washermanpet.</div>
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Again features, pictures, graphics and short takes have increased the focus on this series by ToI.</div>
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By now, the coverage in both these dailies of our neighbourhoods must be having some effect - on readers, communities, elected reps and officers of the state.</div>
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The short - term gains seem to be on record. Promises though will take time to be realized.</div>
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Against this, it will be good for citizens to look inwards to examine the role they have and can play in civic life.</div>
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In my experience as a journalist and editor, the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of our neighbourhoods and of our city and its politics is rather poor or just average among most people.</div>
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How many of us possess info on the civic zone and ward where we reside?</div>
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How many are aware of the different departments that manage our civic affairs and of the jobs they undertake?</div>
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How many of us engage with local officials, engineers and elected reps?</div>
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How many of us have made an effort to go beyond dashing off snappy e-mails and complaining over the phone and tried to set off a local campaign on issues that affect us all?</div>
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Publishing the picture of a garbage-laden street corner, or a letter on an illegal meat stall and making a few phone calls to the local officers cannot end in a magical act.</div>
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Local issues take time to be addressed. And they may show some positive results if we sustain campaigns on them. Newspapers can at best lend us a hand.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
Listen to this post at - </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/jottings/chennais-leading-daily" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/<wbr></wbr>jottings/chennais-leading-<wbr></wbr>daily</a></div>
</div>
Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-92077835620481809252013-09-08T20:10:00.000+05:302013-10-18T20:11:33.370+05:30Remembering our Teachers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Teachers Day provided me an opportunity to visit the
school in Egmore where I studied.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Though we have not had a strong and active alumni
community, a informal group has created linkages with St. Anthony's and has
been involved in a few campus activities.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Asha Marina who studied here in the 80s leads this group.
I had time on Thursday morning, so I joined her and a few others to take part
in the Teachers Day celebrations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As the students danced to a medley of loud and popular
Tamil film songs, roaring to the play of ' Kasu Money...' from the 'Soodhu
Kavum' film and then got the younger teachers involved in some fun games, I
chose to walk around the small campus that was once our second home for 11
years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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St. Anthony's is part of the group of schools in India,
first started in Madras by the missionary nuns of the Union of Presentation
Sisters from Ireland. A small group who were sent from George Towne to Pudupet
to look after Anglo-Indian kids, helped to set up this school which celebrated
its centenary in 2012-2013.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Little of the vintage parts of the school remain but then
campuses have a way of taking you down a nostalgic path. As I walked around I
spotted a board outside the Head Mistress Office - it listed the HMs but it was
incomplete, starting with the HM of the 50s.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That small bit of truncated history was a trigger. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So when we had adjourned to the Teaching Staff Room to
meet up with the teachers who work here today, I asked my alumni colleague
Jacklin if we could collaborate on a project to document information on the
teachers who had served the St Anthony's community.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jacklin showed some interest and went on to feed on my
interest in social histories. She could trace five generations of her family who
came to be in the heart of Mylapore. Yadava Christians who ran a successful
diamonds business that catered to the quiet rich of the city once upon a time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our schools are repositories of a huge and fascinating
amount of social history. For obvious reasons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Highlighting it in its simplest form could well inspire
the present generation of young minds. Visuals and exhibits can attract
students and can have an impact on them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Recently, during a visit to San Thome School I noticed a
simple painted note on the landing of a floor which listed a short history of
this school, also started to cater to orphans and Anglo-Indians.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A Teachers Day initiative for our local schools could be
a document on all the teachers who made the school what it is today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-61881114085720572832013-07-13T10:35:00.000+05:302013-07-13T13:32:32.281+05:30Documenting Anna Nagar's Social History<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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How many of you have walked up to the topmost point of the commonly called Anna Nagar Tower and felt like the maharajah of all you can survey?</div>
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Many would sigh because they have been denied a permit to go to the top. </div>
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The blanket ban came into force after people who were on the edge in life ran up the tower and took their lives.</div>
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Surely, we did not want Visvesvaraya Tower to be nicknamed Suicide Tower.</div>
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How many of you have enjoyed a summer’s boat ride in the pond in this very area? And had a picnic snack under the clump of trees after a jolly session in the shallow waters?</div>
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People who were the early settlers in this neighbourhood in the western part of the city will certainly treasure loads of memories of the early days of what went on to become one of the planned neighbourhoods of Madras.</div>
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The World Trade Fair held in no mans land brought attention to these parts and once the jamboree was over it was time for planners to sit down and visualise another neighbourhood.</div>
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The face of that Anna Nagar has changed completely from the times when wild animal calls greeted you at dusk and the best way to get to your plot on the western side was by hitching a ride on the bricks lorry that was going that way to deliver to a house that was being built in the vicinity.</div>
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Anna Nagar is still a new neighbourhood but the men and women who were its early settlers are slowly fading away from amidst us. And with them, memories, pictures, cards and records.</div>
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This then is the time for an initiative to document the social history of this place. Or for that matter any other neighbourhood.</div>
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This is a suggestion I had made to a bunch of activists in Anna Nagar a couple of years ago. At a meeting in one of the early houses which were built in the famed Shanthi Colony, we worked out the details, passed the juice bottles around and promised to meet again.</div>
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But little came out of it.</div>
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Recently, when a young architect who lives in Shenoy Nagar started to discuss what she and her colleagues could do for Madras Week 2013, I drew back the Anna Nagar social history idea.</div>
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So Thirupura Sundari has just got this project off the ground by creating a page on FaceBook and to get people interested.</div>
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In the weeks to follow, she promises to gather a few like-minded people and search out long-residing families in the area and try and copy pictures and documents which will help tell the story of Anna Nagar. Perhaps on a blog.</div>
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Even the first set of posters produced by the early stores off the Round Tana and the early weddings solemnised at Saint Luke’s Church will be valuable documents for this project.</div>
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Yes, many people may not part with what they consider personal but they will do the youngsters a favour if they share copies of the pictorial records.</div>
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Thirupura Sundari and group’s first aim is to collect two dozen pictures/documents and hold an exhibition. They hope this will enthuse others to share their documents.</div>
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Want to start a similar project in your area?</div>
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Buzz at the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/madrasday" target="_blank">Madras Day FaceBook page</a>. Or email to - <a href="mailto:themadrasday@gmail.com">themadrasday@gmail.com</a>.</div>
</div>
Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14029197.post-77514578642780980362013-07-06T12:45:00.000+05:302013-07-06T12:46:19.888+05:30Ode to a PT master<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the span of a week, I had to travel to the north-western part of the city for two diverse developments - a funeral and a wedding.<br />
<br />
We had to go beyond Perambur on both occasions.<br />
Thiru Vi Ka Nagar is new to me though the badlands of Pulianthope which we had to cross that afternoon are not.<br />
<br />
We were in this nagar to pay our respect to a man who left a great impression on the lives of a whole generation of students at a school in Egmore.<br />
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Paneerselvam was a P T Master who was sportsman, coach, mentor, guide, comic and friend - all rolled in one.<br />
Hailing from the deep south and with a degree at the YMCA College in this city, he joined our school when we were in our teens.<br />
<br />
To him sports was serious business and since we also had Miss Neaves, another legendary sports administrator in our community, PT Master had his hands full. He had to not only coach a bunch of serious young athletes but mould the entire school.<br />
<br />
So he set about creating drill teams like never before. In doing this he not only excited legions of kids who wanted to be in the drill teams though they had to endure his yells and sweat it out on the playground but he also created avenues for the school team to perform at city-level sports meets.<br />
<br />
PT Master’s brand of drills became so known that our school team was invited to perform at bigger sports meets.<br />
<br />
And if the drill team’s record was not enough, Pannerselvam ensured he stood out in a crowd with his trademark look - white cap, straight hair, colourful T-shirt, spotless white trousers and white sports shoes.<br />
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The man who earned much respect and love, inspired loads of jokes and survived a few serious health problems was taken out on his final journey, dressed in his trademark clothes, cap and shoes.<br />
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He wanted to go that way.<br />
<br />
If Pannerselvam remains a loving memory in many hearts, Rajaratnam Stadium in Egmore is a fading memory for legions of athletes. This sports space that belongs to the Madras City Police was second home to generations of sportspeople and for the youth who lived in Egmore.<br />
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The compact, centrally located stadium was convenient for city schools to hold their Sports Meets and for talented athletes to train and toil for a place on the podium.<br />
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With the closure of this stadium some years ago, an important social space was wiped out. Thankfully, a new stadium is to be opened now but it does not have the simple, open feel that the old one offered all athletes.<br />
Some places are part of people’s lives. If we cannot preserve them completely, we can save parts of them for the future.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1s2rq_zyZsExMqEjUueEU99V95cVe4PtXw46fMcuB2LHd82zO3p194IIZXzCKs4Kzgwbh9UGEKLSC8fAvDY_DaGRS2a31xRIxtgmnyOS3dqEwSvMKtOmpud-qNjrgb9Z2k4n/s1600/audio.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1s2rq_zyZsExMqEjUueEU99V95cVe4PtXw46fMcuB2LHd82zO3p194IIZXzCKs4Kzgwbh9UGEKLSC8fAvDY_DaGRS2a31xRIxtgmnyOS3dqEwSvMKtOmpud-qNjrgb9Z2k4n/s1600/audio.gif" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Listen to the audio post <a href="http://youtu.be/gu5we7P4eDw" target="_blank">here</a>.</i></b></div>
Vincent D' Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01860540121667927242noreply@blogger.com0