Am I being insensitive in saying that the entire English language media went on a overdrive on the anniversary of 26/11 attacks? Perhaps the media – especially the TV channels are repenting their irresponsibility that was condemned far and wide this time last year.

Excerpts from an article in ToI by Pritish Nandy.

Terrorists do not need to celebrate the success of 9/11 or 26/11 We are doing it for them, even as we weep for the victims and tell the world that we are better prepared to face future strikes. Let’s not kid ourselves. The more we talk about pain, the horror, the memories of these terrible events, the more the perpetrators celebrate.

It’s important, therefore to treat such anniversaries with caution and circumspection. We don’t reallly need to overload the nation with cardiac stress. 26/11 was a terrible tragedy and also a moment of amazing heroism. We lost some of our finest policemen and many innocent people for no reason. But our future lies not in recalling its memories and reassuring the rascals who perpetrated it that they had struck home and caused us unforgettable pain.

When 9/11 happened, US news channels said ‘America under attack’. However, on 26/11 it was just ‘Mumbai under attack’. Doesn’t it say something?

Recently saw the movie ‘Madurai to Theni vazhi Andipatti’. This post is not a movie review or anything of its kind. But watching it made me realise that in the recent times, quite a few movies have got released with all-new faces. Although we have seen such ‘all fresh face’ movies in the past, it has become a trend in the recent couple of years. Perhaps, this started with ‘Subramaniyapuram’ and movie makers got emboldened to make story as their hero. It is a good trend indeed, as otherwise we may not have seen the likes of ‘Chennai – 28′, ‘Saroja’, ‘Anjaadhey’, ‘Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu’ etc.

Coming back to ‘Madurai to Theni’, there is nothing great about the movie as such. It is all about the slang. Having never lived in that part of the world, I don’t know how local it is for the locals, but consistency of the dialogue delivery / slang has been maintained through out the movie. Those who have lived in mofussil towns of Tamilnadu will be able to relate to the concept of a bus being one of the central characters in their life atleast for a certain point of time.

Having lived in Srirangam (Trichy) for few years in early to mid 90s, I can vividly recall the emotional attachment people had towards their (favourite) buses. Trichy is one of the towns where private town buses run aplenty along with state owned public transport. As Srirangam was / is only a residential area, most of the residents will have to travel up to Chatram Bus Stand / Main Guard Gate area for work or studies. Also, ss Srirangam is a famous temple town often flocked by tourists, Trichy to Srirangam is one of the most busiest and money minting routes in the region. Thanks to this fact, residents of Srirangam never need to wait for more than two or three minutes at a bus stop.

Most of the private buses used to ply dangerously fast. With two conductors for every bus, they will never stop on the way for issuing tickets (colloquially known as ‘stage’). Moreover, they will have good audio systems that will play the latest tunes (this was well before the re-birth of FMs). While the above easily made the private buses a favourite of most of the poeple, some took it to the next level. Most of the college students will have a good rapport with the conductors and several of us used to exchange our audio cassettes with the conductors. As the private buses compete with one another, this will mean that some of the passengers will have a sort of loyalty towards their favourite buses. Well, this doesn’t get applied very seriously – but if one knows that their favourite bus will be approaching in the next 10 minutes, then they will prefer to wait.

Our favourite buses at that time were PMP, SR (Nagara Puyal , PL.A etc. There is another one from yesteryears called TST (Trichy Srirangam Transport), infamously called ‘Thallu Saar Thallu’, as they were once very infamous for their break downs. Not sure how many of the private buses are still plying, but if all the silly little things could be recalled to a great detail after 13 years, it does means something. Strange that what started as a post on movie ended up as a nostalgic note.

I bought my only car (so far) way back in December 2005. Back then, it was a 5-year old car that cost me two grand in British currency. A comprehensive insurance cover cost me around 700 quid and that apart from the common goodies included the recovery cover (home start). The way the car insurance appears to work in this country is – you get discount (called as no-claims discount) for every year you go with out making any claim on your policy. The percentage of discount is meant to increase with every additional year without a claim.

After 4 years of no-claim (which I have now, touchwood!), you are supposed to get 60% discount on my insurance. When I received the renewal quote today, the insureres are charging a whopping 510 quid for a car that costs no more than £750. I expected the quote to be less than £400 given the fact that my car has depreciated in value considerably. When I asked about this, the insurers say that the insurance costs have gone up and hence the price increase. Damn. I am yet to renew my insurance as I am in the process of negotiating with quite a few insurers trying to get the price down. Comparison websites are fine, but I just learnt that you could negotiate to bring down the quote much further. A good test for my negotiating skills.