Save Our Tigers. How?

I've seen the ads supported by Aircel for the Save Our Tigers campaign.

I'd like to do something and support the initiative, and they say blogging is one of the ways to do it, so here goes, but what happens after that?

I doubt that anyone blogging or reading a blog will have any objection to saving tigers--they're probably already really sensitized to the issue. The campaign isn't quite clear about what the actual problem is, and how it plans to solve the livelihood issues of those villagers who poach and hunt tigers.

The Save the Tiger campaign plans to raise funds, but doesn't the government have enough funds already? This article says the government has Rs. One Lakh Crore funds unspent each year.

So I certainly don't want to send more money to Project Tiger. What can I do?

Unhealthy Obsession

start rant

What is this obsession with height, colour, etc.?

The TV is full of ads with claims of their "nutritional drink" being the best health drink to "increase the height of kids"! WTF?

What's wrong with being short? One ad says, "Kids always like to be tall.. so, use blah blah." Umm... kids also like playing in the dirt, and eating chocolate as their sole means of survival, lady!

How tall is the greatest cricketer ever? Or the Father of the Nation? Or Picasso? C'mon people--it is more repulsive than the fairness cream ads, honestly.

And parents better beware--if something increases your growth inordinately, doesn't it stand to reason that it probably has growth hormones in it?

end rant

Updates

OK. So I lost the NaNoWriMo Challenge--again. Realized that it's no joke writing so much, even junk! I only managed about 13,000 words before my plot lost me (or I lost the plot, depending on how you look at it)!

And in other news, I've had an epiphany of sorts. I always thought that reading and writing went together. If you read well, and widely enough, you'll be able to write decently. But I think it is not necessarily true. It takes a lot more than knowing what reads well to write well.

That's pretty much that.

Am Writing a Novel This Month!

Or trying to.

NaNoWriMo, or the National Novel Writing Month, is an initiative to get people off their a55e5 and write-- the goal is 50,000 words through November. The basic idea is that you write nearly 1,600 words a day, from November 1 to 30, and you have a novel ready. Or at least have written in a month more than most people do in a lifetime. Their Web site is at www.nanowrimo.org.

I tried it once, three years ago, and failed. But I hope to make it this year. By hook or by crook.

I'm already a week behind. Wish me luck!

This month's Heritage Lecture

This month's Heritage lecture by Dr.Chitra Madhavan is scheduled for this Sunday, September 13, at 4:45p.m. Venue: 28/2, Musiri Subramaniam Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 600004. Tel: 24992114.

The talk will be about the Nayak period. Dr. Madhavan is an expert on temple architecture and history.

Dr.Madhavan's talks are really interesting and down-to-earth, even if her topics soar high!

Read about her talk at the Madras Week celebrations here.

The King of Mambalam!

The rains are here, and that can mean only one thing: The King has now reclaimed his rightful place in Mambalam households (in fact, in the whole of Chennai these days)!

Presenting the current king of Mambalam households, the precursor of Diwali, the insecti naasini, the oli veesini,(drumroll, please!)Raja KOSU BAT!!!




Most come with a light, is that supposed to help us see the mosquitoes better? Our brand is Katungou (please show?) and it's been working pretty well for the past year. Remember to keep it horizontal when not charging or working, is what the salesperson said. Perhaps that helped?

The crackling sound, the little spark of light, the realization that you can feel so happy at the death of a living thing--nothing to match the simultaneous violence and peace that the kosu bat gives!



Best thing to happen to Mambalites since... since... not sure that there has been much good happening around here anyway!

My Madras Week

A burqa-clad girl singing rock, a young lady talking about clamps on Vishnu’s heart, and a walk where my landmark to the auto driver was worse than “Thiruppathi’la mottai thatha.” Oh, and I forget: steamy scandals of MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar.

That sums up (some of) what I caught during Madras Week. It’s an awesome idea, and restaurants, newspapers, and marketers have caught on to what they think is a great money-spinning idea, coming right after Aadi. Let’s not forget that many of Madras Week events, by themselves, are free to the public, and a great way to get to know the city of Chennai.

Before I forget: the scandals were a reference to the talk by Randor Guy. It was packed to capacity. The scandals were not all that many—proof again that scandals and affairs sell. It was held at a place called the Madras Terrace House in Royapettah. The house seemed like a renovated Madras home with clay tiles and framed photographs of cinestars of yesteryears. It all looked good, but seemed to try too much to be antique, if you know what I mean. The talk itself was too short for the vast history that I thought he would cover. But it was a lot of fun, and I thought the Raja Sando character was too colourful—where can I get more info on him?

Anyway, there were five photowalks organized by the wonderfully enthusiastic Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan during the week. I caught the last part of the one inside the Southern Railway Headquarters, and some of the one on Mint Street. Here is where we were asked to congregate near the Jain Temple. It turns out that every other building on Mint Street is a Jain temple (although the biggest one was really big). I promptly got off at the first one, thinking it was it, and the auto driver, for obvious reasons, did not bother to correct me. My camera was kaput and I used the camera on my mobile phone, but just as a general walk, it was great!

Here are some pictures from the Railway HQs:






And here are some from the Mint Street walk:





I also attended what was billed as an evening of plays and performances on Chennai, but ended up being a string of bands (mostly college bands) belting out some numbers--covers and originals. Peter Kaapi was one of the bands, and the burqa-clad girl held my attention for a bit--she was a decent MC.



But honestly, I could not understand a word of what she sang in this song, “Asathoma Sadgamaya”!! The sloka was sung clearly and without many drum beats, but the rest, whoosh… over my head. Wasn’t even sure if it was English or Tamil. I’m partial to rap, but a duo calling themselves “Watta Bottles” came on stage, and I had a nice time listening to them. But like I say, I’m partial to rap. I didn’t have the time to stay for the whole program. BTW, this was at Alliance Francaise, and their canteen had some pretty awesome coffee/dry fruit cake.

Saturday was a busy day as I headed out to check out Chitra Madhavan’s talk on “Four Famous Temples of Chennai.” The house was packed, and surprise: snacks were part of the talk. These Heritage folks must have some major money! The talk was interesting, and I’ve resolved to attend more of her talks. Apparently, she has a monthly talk at the Musiri Chamber, 28/2, Musiri Subramaniam Rd., Mylapore, every month.

Sunday was low-key for me. Just attended part of the Madras Quiz. Learnt so much; forgot most of it! There was a nice coins, and rare books exhibition at the venue, P.S. Higher Secondary School.

I’ve decided to somehow learn more about my city through the year, not just this week! But when I was 15, I decided I'd be the CM of TN by now...