* Jotted down on the day we landed in India

– Looks like Electric Toothbrush is not that very common in India. When I was using that at Delhi Airport, there were quite a few onlookers watching me too closely for my comfort. I was worried that if I were to put it down for a moment, one of them is going to pick up and use it.

– At New Delhi’s swanky new Terminal 3, we were getting ready to move on after collecting our baggages. There were some helpers guiding us on our way to Customs counter / Exit etc. I was quite amused by the way they asked me about my job title, employer, pay etc. and expected me to part all of that information without any reason. Perhaps I should get used to forgetting the phrase ‘Data Privacy’.

– Wifey bought a bottle of water @ Delhi Airport and made the stupid mistake of standing in the queue to pay for it. At least, 15 other people managed to get ahead of her in paying for their stuff. Of course, there was still a queue and 2 or 3 people were still standing in the queue awaiting their turn to get near the till.

– Good to see muffins with those red and green tooti-fruity bits on it. How long it has been to see those colourful looking muffins.

– Chennai Super Kings jersey was being sold at the airport for Rs 2500. Must buy one of that and Team India one soon for a decent price.

– T3 of New Delhi airport is fabulous. Of all the things, I was very much impressed with the cleanliness of the toilets.

Although I have been visiting India for the last eleven years at least once every 18 months, the extent to which certain organisations provided service shocked and amazed me.

If Airtel surprised me by providing the phone connection and broadband within 48 hours, HDFC Bank even shocked me by providing me with Instant ATM card and other paraphernalia the moment I gave their representative the documents they asked for. Last Sunday afternoon, there was some issue with our landline connection and the line went dead. I called up Airtel and they promised to set it right by 10 a.m on Monday. I was very, very sceptical about the promise mainly because it was a Sunday. But to my surprise, an engineer came knocking at our doors two hours later and the line was set right.

I am well aware that I shouldn’t generalise things by the above experience, but it was a pleasant and welcoming change. Perhaps, the key lies in being mentally prepared for the worst. In any case, I am getting prepared for the law of averages to strike.

To those of you who still visit this site, just to let you know that we have moved to Bangalore, after 11 good years in United Kingdom.

We moved here about two weeks ago and gradually settling down. Personally, this is my first visit to Bangalore and in my short experience in the city, I should say that I like the place. We should count ourselves lucky and blessed to have friends – esp. Vijay and Priya, who ensured that every little thing was taken care of, so much so that we didn’t even have to struggle for a thing. They treated us like they would do a child and ensured a super smooth landing. I owe a lot for what they did, considering that I know them only through this blog. As I pretty much know that I wouldn’t be able to repay my gratitude in any way, I am feeling like a Ravanan or Rajapakshe due to what I owe them. (கடன் பட்டார் நெஞ்சம் போல் கலங்கினான் இலங்கை வேந்தன்)

Happy and proud to introduce Shyam Prasad’s photography website – http://www.shyamprasadsphotography.com

I have known Shyam for more than 13 years and for quite sometime now, I have enjoyed the brilliant snaps that he used to share in Facebook along with apt one-liners in Tamil. Great that Shyam decided to share his snaps to those outside of his FB circle by launching this website. Good luck Shyam in your celebration of light and shadows. Hoping to see more of your lovely pixels in the site.

Buying a Digital SLR remains a dream for me for the last few years. I haven’t done any impulse buying so far. There is a good possibility that I may just go ahead and buy a Digital SLR on seeing Shyam’s website.

Remember the ‘Nigeria 419 emails‘ that used to flood our mail boxes few years back?

Those are mails from people claiming to be from some country in Africa and seek help in moving money in return for good compensation. Either the spam filters are working really well or the fraudsters have changed their strategy, I haven’t been getting any in the last few years.

Got such a mail today. See below.
—

From:
Radha Ramalinga

Namaskar,

My name is Radha Ramalinga,I am the wife of B. Suryanarayana Raju Ramalinga,the younger brother of Byrraju Ramalinga Raju,former chairman,founder and owner of Satyam Computers.

I do have a proposal for you,which would be of immense financial benefits to you and I.

My husband and his brother are currently in big trouble in India,I need your assistance to help me move some funds from Holland to India or anywhere where it would at least be of some help to our family.

I would give you more details of this proposal if you show yourself willing to take on it,I assure you that you would most certainly be compensated but please I would kindly request you to keep this matter confidential.

I am currently here in the UK where it is a bit safe for me and my kids.
You can reach me on my personal email id which is mailradha99@gmail.com

Yours sincerely,
R.Ramalinga

Watched the movie ‘Despicable Me’ on Sunday morning. Kids movie and a good one too, considering that the ticket price was just £1. Had I known that cinemas price their tickets so low for Sunday morning shows for selected kids movies, I would have taken Anirud for lot more movies than we have. Anyway, better late than never.

**

Malyasia Vasudevan – what a gifted singer he was. Sang so many high-pitched songs naturally and his voice is definitely unique. Many of the vintage Rajini songs still stay in our mind because of MV’s voice. ‘Podhuvaaga En Manasu thangam’ (Murattu Kaalai), ‘Manidhan Manidhan’ (Manidhan), ‘Aagaya Gangai’ (Dharma Yuddham’, ‘Poongaatru thirumbuma’ (Mudhal Mariyadhai), ‘Aatukutti muttaiyittu’ (16 Vayadhinile) are some of his many evergreen songs. May his soul rest in peace.

**

Enjoyed every bit of PM Manmohan Singh’s presser last week. I am so glad that he called for such a press conference. There were quite a few who believed on his so-called ‘Mr Clean’ tag. If not anything, last week took Mr Clean to cleaners and showed him what he is (in)capable of. More than Manmohan Singh, a lot needs to be said about the media. But, less said the better for electronic media sucks big time.

**

Almost six years after moving to my current locality, we just discovered a lovely book warehouse – just a mile away from our home. They are open only on the third weekend of every month and have an impressive collection of books. Best part is not their collection, but that they offer 80% discount on all their stocks. Another, better late than never story. Have I been closing my eyes all these years?

**

Got £30 worth of Tesco vouchers that need to be used by the end of February. We were planning to use it for a day out since summer, but the weather gods seem to have different ideas. Looks like I may have to get their validity period extended. But, sonny seems very keen on going to ‘Cadbury World’. Lets see.

Attended a Carnatic music concert by Rasikalaya at Ealing recently. Vocal by Sangeetha Swaminathan, Jyotsana Srikanth on Violin and Prakash on Mridangam. No need to confess that I am not even a novice when it comes to Carnatic music, but it was a real pleasant experience indeed even without taking into account the yummy yummy puliyodharai and curd rice that was served after the concert. Can’t believe that I am attending ‘kutcheris’ these days.

***
Handled an interesting interpretation assignment recently. It was for watching couple of Tamil films along with the examiners of the agency that classifies the movies. In short, they are the British counterparts of Indian Censor Board. However, unlike the Censor Board in India, these people will only classify the movies in to the right category and will not normally cut any scenes from the film. Although in most cases, the visuals in the movie will form the base for classification, in some – it may be the case of dialogues. Apart from telling the examiners of the story line, my job was to spot bad language, any references to drugs etc based on the guideline given to me. Downside of this assignment is that, you can’t just walk away from movie if it was boring. Loved this assignment, despite the fact that I had to watch ‘Siruthai’. The other one was ‘Aadukalam’, which was good.

***
Twitter rocks these days. Especially people behind the handles – DrYumYumSingh and Queen_UK are simply superb.

***
Cricket World Cup, IPL, TN Assembly Elections. Amidst all these lined up for the next few months, how is one expected to keep track of the scams that get unearthed every other day?

***
Had a lovely weekend by visiting a friend’s place in a town called Basingstoke. Though the journey was an hour long from home, we got to meet another couple apart from the hosts and it was good to have a free-wheeling chat after a superb lunch. The best part is that we got the privilege of attending an exclusive practice session for their light music programme. Lunch, Chat, Live Music. Couldn’t have asked for more.