Crows !

Crow is one of the bird that has been introduced to everyone from the time of feeding by a mother in India. Crow joins the kids during story hours too in the form of 'Old lady frying a vada / kaaka vada sutta kadhai', 'Crow and the pebbles', 'Crow and crocodile' etc :-) . I could also recollect that during my childhood days we believed that if two completely dark black crows are seen, it is great lucky day. If you see only a single completely dark black crow, you may need to pinch your nearby friend so that it turns out be lucky. Interestingly that led to lot of pinch play among the friends. The term 'Completely dark black black' refers to crows that have their necks also black in color just as the color of their wings/tail. Recently, crows have entered into tamil movies (comedy role) also in the form of 'kaaka biryani / anju roopa biryani' jokes.

On certain occasions during the morning hours on saturday/sunday, i feed the crows. In my area , they appear to be pure 'chappathitarians' (Yup, they prefer to eat only chappathis made of wheat) . Nowadays the crows are very hi-fi and concerned much about their diet more than the humans :-). Yes, if i try to feed puri, they do not feed on it quickly as it is bit more oily than chappathi. If i give them Dosa / Murukku , they give me a naughty look and frame a question 'What about chappathi ?' (kaaka akakakka). They are very much concerned about healthy diet. They come regularly by around 7.45 to 8.15 pm and sit on compound walls and telephone / television cables before the window. If they are not fed for nearly 15 minutes, they would come and sit on the window door to check our availability and also to signal their arrival for breakfast :-) They will not caw on arrival, unless they are terribly hungry for that day ! Few of the crows are good fielders that they would catch a piece of chappathi using their beaks :-) . I like the manner in which the crows do a series of short jumps (7 to 12 times) on the horizontal metal bar on top of the front gate after picking up their breakfast to reach the pillars(compound wall pillar) at the end. It appears like a little cute dance in joy !

In India, lot of crows can be seen near the temples and residential areas (close to food sources) ! They are typically called as 'House Crow' in India.

Cards game - The real time-pass !

Recently, we have started playing cards after a very very long time. It is fun playing with friends/family members as there would be lot of comments flying during various phases of the games. Card games deserve appreciation as they appear in various formats for various generations of people. The interesting part is that it provides a range of flavours that require less attention to those that require great attention. So, we can choose the type of game based on the mood of the people.

1. Rummy card game - One should have form a sequence of 4 cards, 2 dummy collection (Requires more effective thinking and monitoring of the game)

2. A's card game - The player with the lowest score wins. The A's card holder starts the play and the player who plays the big card starts the play for the consecutive games . I remember nightmares of A's rounds on certain ocassions :-)

3. Sevens card game - The one with the least total value / empty hands wins the game. The interesting part is sometimes you may think that the card of value 1 (A) is the smallest possible, but the opponent might have jokers (Total value of zero) . A real good game !!

4. Poker without money (2 card) - Here, instead of real money, we categorize the J/Q/K/A/Joker as virtual money of Rs 5/10/15/20/30 respectively.

5. Bluff card game - The one who empties his hands wins the game. The players play by stating (truth / bluff) of such set of cards and others can either challenge or continue to place few cards by stating either the truth/bluff. It is very funny game :-)

The above listed games are those most commonly played games in India. In my childhood days, we have played the Rummy , A's , Monkey, Bluff card games. Recently, i have started to play the 'sevens cards game' and 'poker game without money'.

The cost of normal playing cards is around Rs 10 to 20 and that of plastic cards is from Rs 50 to 100. Plastic cards are preferred for different shuffling tricks rather than the normal playing cards !

Nehru stadium in Chennai - Vijay Film awards

Well, on saturday afternoon we got few tickets for Vijay Film awards that was held in Nehru stadium in Chennai. We started around 6 pm from house and it was a 45 mins drive for Rs 100 from Kodambakkam to Nehru stadium by auto-rickshaw. As usual we need to pass through the heavy saturday traffic to reach the stadium :-( Crossing T-Nagar on a sunny day is one of the greatest adventures for a person in chennai :-)

Our tickets were of balcony-3 category. The gate 3 entrance was for balcony-3 . I think, balcony-1 was were film stars were sitting and it was infront of the dias in the form of lot of small round-tables that numbered to around 50. The crowd was pouring in quickly and by around 7.00 , the indoor-stadium appeared to be very much closely packed up. I could find people sitting on the pathway / steps too !

The dias was brilliantly decorated that actually raised our expectations of the event to new heights. The lighting effects were very good. There were lot of displays (small and big). The digital background images and animation was very good . Gopi , the anchor of 'Neeya Naana' was the anchor for the vijai film awards too ! We were able to see many movie stars coming throughout the evening at regular intervals. The show started with Karthik performing few of tamil movie songs (old and new). Got a glimpse of various famous actors and actresses in tamil film industry. It was very enjoyable ! The crowd was very lively as they raised the pitch whenever an actor was named or shown as arriving over the big display .

This was the first time, i watched a film awards function lively. I felt that they played lot of different music that was heard for the first time . But, the audio was not very clear :-( I think, the balcony-1 people would have relished the music and visuals very well compared to either balcony-2 or balcony-3. Further, the dances appeared to be very good, but not extra-ordinary. Maybe, they were extra-ordinary but since i watched it lively for the first time, i could not find the difference. In the television screen, everything appears to be excellent !! :-)

I am sure, vijay television will be soon broadcasting this and hope to see it again !

Visit to Anjaneyar temple in Namakkal

Last week, i visited Namakkal Anjaneyar temple from Bangalore . The route was via Krishnagiri, Salem and Namakkal. It was a 7 hours journey from Bangalore. Namakkal is nearer to Bangalore than Chennai. The travel time can be split up as between Bangalore to Krishnagiri -2 hours, Krishnagiri to Salem - 4 hours and Salem to Namakkal - 1 hour. I attended my friend's marriage and visited the hanuman temple in namakkal while returning back to bangalore. Namakkal is famous for poultry and lorry body building business.

Anjaneyar temple in Namakkal is one of my favorite temple from my childhood. I could recollect my childhood school days of Namakkal which was regularly filled with weekly visit to Anjaneyar temple. He is a very powerful God and infact he fulfilled my childhood prayers of getting good marks :-) . The visit to the temple was interestingly synchronised with the famous namakkal temple festival in which people pour 'manjal thanni' just like holi function. During this ocassion, Lord is brought in ratham around the streets of Namakkal and it is normally a holiday for Namakkal. I could recollect my childhood days in an appartment that collected around Rs 30/50 as donation amount and screened few films on cinema-size screens in the street . No wonder, on the day of my visit last week, Namakkal appeared to be almost closed and the temple was very much crowded !

Lord Anjaneya appears worshipping Lord Narasimha (Narasimha temple is just opposite to Lord Anjaneyar temple in Namakkal) in the standing posture and is very tall with sky as the roof. In my childhood days, i remember that the temple did not have any flooring (It was sand) and it was not covered completely. Last week, i found that things have changed very much that there were new paintings , floorings and rennovation of walls . Good to see a progressive positive change in Namakkal temple. People in Namakkal are very lucky to have such a powerful God in their place as they could frequently visit as they wish !!

Vadapalani temple in Chennai

Today, we visited Vadapalani temple . It was a drive in auto-rickshaw from Kodambakkam. After skipping few auto-rickshaws and negotiations, it was a Rs 35 journey . Well, Vadapalani is one of the major places of Chennai as it is very close to Kodambakkam and T.Nagar. Even thought it is near to those places, the temple in Vadapalani is the main reason for major attraction . The place is pretty crowded as there are many followers of Lord Muruga around the temple on almost every day. On saturday and sunday, it is very crowded as it is a public holiday.

Lord Murugan is so beautiful and divine that both mind/heart is filled with happiness and peace. Luckily, today we saw the Lord coming around in Ratham (Temple car/Chariot).

The temple appears like a simple new-age temple . I did not find many scriptures inside the temple, but the main tower was well scripted with lots of images of different Gods. I liked the water flow at entrance of the temple that washes our legs off the dirt to keep the shrine clean. The drums controlled by modern mechanical and electronics is one of the latest implementation in the temple. I also liked the lightings on the walls of the temple. Unlike other temples that have scriptures over the walls around the temple, interestingly this temple has good lightings over the wall.

Traffic in Bangalore

I have to travel nearly 15 kms to office from my house :-( Thats really energy sapping. The real trouble is because of the traffic diversions due to new flyovers being constructed in most of the places. But, the traffic-jam can be avoided if people follow the rules properly. Many times , people try to go in the opposite direction if there is no vehicle arriving from the other end to reach near the traffic signal. I find that in some places, people drive their motorbikes over the platforms to go ahead of others waiting for the 'green-signal' :-( It is too bad that sometimes people go past 'red-signal' if the traffic police is not around . This happens very frequently during rainy season and it is more difficult to travel on those days.

It was not different today. My travelling time during morning was 1 hour and 30 minutes. In the evening also, it was almost 1 hour and 45 minutes. The main reason behind this chaos is the failure of people to follow proper traffic rules. Though there are cameras at main traffic signals apart from traffic police, it does not seem to solve the problem. It is high time that some device should be made that forces people to follow traffic rules.

While pondering over this, few of the below ideas popped up in my mind
1. Signal Stopper - A traffic light signal should always broadcast its current state as either Red or Yellow or Green. The vehicle should receive it and tear down the speed/acceleration accordingly. So, if it receives red, it should calculate the distance to the signal, the distance to the near by vehicles and slow down / stop the vehicle. In this manner, the traffic rules could be strictly followed(forced) for normal vehicles to avoid lot of chaos to make travelling a very happy journey :-)

2. Laser Ray Gate - This idea may sound funny, but if the people are tough, then rules can be equivalently tough :-) To avoid a person to drive in the opposite side of the road(against traffic rules) to reach the signal quickly, one-way laser rays based gates can be flashed across the other side of the road. One-way laser rays based gates allow traffic to flow in one direction, if it finds traffic in opposite direction, it will slowly lock the vehicle.

Hope that the traffic/commutation situation does not go so bad that such tough ideas come into place !

Hybrid Hen

Well, today i had late lunch as i was busy with some meetings. I had 'veg combo' ( a common corporate food in India ). While the combo was being prepared by the canteen guys, my mind was busy cooking few ideas as i was alone.
1. hmmm, this may sound like an offer that is given during lunch on festive ocassions :-) Yeah, i was thinking that it would be great if an hybrid hen could lay a piece of kabab for every 2 eggs that it lays. This saves cooking time and i believe that hen will be the correct person compared to a man in giving a tasty kabab :-) :-)

2. I find that the egg-shell has very less use and its destination is mostly to dust-bin . It would be great if a hybrid hen could lay egss with grape like skin. Let the skin have a grape/apple like taste. So, you need to make a hole to get the fluid out and can even eat the skin as it would be tasty. There is no wastage - planet receives less garbage :-).

Well, i think the canteen guys were able to read these thoughts cooking in my mind and were quick in delivering the veg-combo to divert my mind into having lunch :-) Hope to blog about mind reading in later editions . hehehe :-)