22 November 2009
11 November 2009
Some Birds of Velachery and Pallikkaranai
This is the Pond Heron
This is the Cattle Egret
More Egrets
In the Background - Some Little Grebes, also known as Dabchicks. In the Foreground can be seen a few black polythene garbage bags and one or two birds that we will see closeup a little way down the page.
This bird is something that caused me to hunt around in books to discover it's name.. see the next three pictures as it comes into shape.
It is the Pheasant tailed Jacana, that is what it was!!!
Some sort of Egret?
A lovely picture of the much maligned crow! It is actually vain enough to glance at every puddle - would you believe it?
After shooting the crow, I went back from Pallikaranai Marsh/rubbish heap to The Velachery Rainwater lake. On the way is a little greenery - mostly reeds and marshy water, and what a treat I saw many birds there itself.. in the middle of the day!
Don't know this one's name yet, hunting to find out, but it looked brave on the wires...
This may be a tailor bird, a white throat or a munia.. just give me a few days to find out and post it here.
Another little black one similar to the one on the wires.
This is a Drongo.
Ah I almost thought this was a human scuttling through the reeds foraging for eggs (obviously at midday it couldn't be for any other purpose) until I spotted a feathery flutter of a wing in teh style of a bird... I still don't have a clear picture, but from the books' description of nextinghabits and the colour, I guess this may have been a Purple Moorhen.
Now I was back atthe Velachery Puddle. Here is a nice picture of a man casting his net to catch the fish.
Yo ho ho and Away we Go!
10 November 2009
Bird for the Day - Scarlet Minivet
The Scarlet Minivet: Minivets are smallish birds - a little smaller than a sparrow. This one is called the scarlet minivet. To the eye the colours seem to be closer to black and vermillion than scarlet itself... when it flutters to settle down on a twig or rises up, it presents the most enchanting picture. It's not easy to see, as perhaps it is shier than many other birds, but a beautiful spectacle, to be seen amidst a lot of greenery...
09 November 2009
Bird for the Day
The Bird for the Day is the Indian Grey Hornbill: See picture below -
It is the most curious bird because looking at it you will wonder if it is a remnant from the age of the dinos that somehow tricked evolution and developed into a bird...
Okay, this statement is factually incorrect - a poetic license to describe the clumsy flappy flight of the Hornbill, which when accompanied by its cry which is a rusty metallic shrieking sound, one cannot prevent the surge of the heart and the soaring of the mind....
Here's the Grey Hornbill folks!
It is the most curious bird because looking at it you will wonder if it is a remnant from the age of the dinos that somehow tricked evolution and developed into a bird...
Okay, this statement is factually incorrect - a poetic license to describe the clumsy flappy flight of the Hornbill, which when accompanied by its cry which is a rusty metallic shrieking sound, one cannot prevent the surge of the heart and the soaring of the mind....
Here's the Grey Hornbill folks!
08 November 2009
Some birds that can be seen in Chennai now
The Purple Sunbird - This iridescent male bird has this amazing colour during the mating season, other times it is not so colourful and has a plainer yellowish body. The female apparently does not undergo this transformation. You can spot this bird by its long and slightly curved-towards-the-edge beak, and it is usually flitting about in shrubby flowering plants. It is closely related to the Humming Bird.
This is the Pied Crested Cuckoo - Herald of the monsoons. Salim Ali remarked that this bird comes with the monsoon and goes with the monsoon. In that sense it has been called the rainbird, as it travels along the Indian subcontinent along with the monsoon rains. Lovely bird with a typical call, it can be seen in Chennai around November or so. Can be seen resting on the limbs of medium sized trees, almost hidden among the branches.
The Kuil, Koel, Indian Cuckoo - The famous, much loved and omnipresent songbird of India. This is the male of the species. The female is a lighter shade of black, with white patches all over the body and does not have the sweet tone that the male is so famous for. The female is also much more shy and difficult to spot. These birds fly higher and amongthe taller trees and many times into the open. They have many cries and can be identified also by the red eye. it is smaller than the crow and has a longer and thinner tail.
This is the Pied Crested Cuckoo - Herald of the monsoons. Salim Ali remarked that this bird comes with the monsoon and goes with the monsoon. In that sense it has been called the rainbird, as it travels along the Indian subcontinent along with the monsoon rains. Lovely bird with a typical call, it can be seen in Chennai around November or so. Can be seen resting on the limbs of medium sized trees, almost hidden among the branches.
The Kuil, Koel, Indian Cuckoo - The famous, much loved and omnipresent songbird of India. This is the male of the species. The female is a lighter shade of black, with white patches all over the body and does not have the sweet tone that the male is so famous for. The female is also much more shy and difficult to spot. These birds fly higher and amongthe taller trees and many times into the open. They have many cries and can be identified also by the red eye. it is smaller than the crow and has a longer and thinner tail.
25 September 2009
The Day of the Critic.
A Review of Unnai-pol Oruvan
First it was god who was declared dead, then the author and then the guru... so finally it is the day of the critic!!!
What do I mean by this? Certainly not that everything depends on The Critic's whims and fancies, rather that films are finally forcing people to look inwards and think ... no ... THINK!!!!
Even as I watched A Wednesday, I was very confused - I was thinking "what does he say? that we all should take guns in our hands and threaten people to do what we think is right???" That never did leave me satisfied, even given the self-righteous declaration on the part of the nameless "terrorist aspirant" middle-class genius.
When I saw the Tamil version, again, some things were changed, an already smooth narrative was made even more enjoyable and smooth and even more acceptable in its candour, yet I wasn't willingto just accept that it carried the simple message that all terrorists must be shot dead to achieve world peace!! And neither could I accept that this was the feeling that expressed the thought of all sectors of peace-loving, law-abiding citizens.. no matter what Kamal's character spoke - " nyayath-tha eduthu solla nan yaara irunda enna? .." And when I say this, I am not denying that the whole reference to the brutal murders and violations in Gujarat were not equally soul destroying for me - for they were.. they are!!!
Okay, when it wasn't clear, I started thinking about what, in the film, made it possible for this intelligent ordinary man to get on and achieve his idea of planting five bombs in a city and getting everyone to do his bidding, not just government servants but private agents, including the media, reporters, and geeks?
It was just the social greed, the love for power and a corruption of the soul engendered by the lack of understanding of the great heights to which the markers of modern civilization, such as Law, Police, Medicine, Science, Politics, and all institutions and personnel who are put in place to keep these systems functioning - starting from Country Presidents, Business Barons, Political Achievers - both overlords and mafiosi and going right down to the rank and file, the nuts and bolts salaried folk.
It is not just charity, but peace, too, that begins at home. Why look for voluntary work? Look within and change yourself, be angry with yourself, for being corrupt, for being lazy, for not being your own great self compassionate and merciful, but also hardworking, proud and self-reliant -
TO get back to film reading, the days when the hero advised his audience and manipulated them are OVER - no more can we role-model heroes.. instead here are movies written by many hands and read by many eyes, each one to form his own story... If yu see the film and only blame someone else, you are still suffering from a delusion, a moral-high masque...
First it was god who was declared dead, then the author and then the guru... so finally it is the day of the critic!!!
What do I mean by this? Certainly not that everything depends on The Critic's whims and fancies, rather that films are finally forcing people to look inwards and think ... no ... THINK!!!!
Even as I watched A Wednesday, I was very confused - I was thinking "what does he say? that we all should take guns in our hands and threaten people to do what we think is right???" That never did leave me satisfied, even given the self-righteous declaration on the part of the nameless "terrorist aspirant" middle-class genius.
When I saw the Tamil version, again, some things were changed, an already smooth narrative was made even more enjoyable and smooth and even more acceptable in its candour, yet I wasn't willingto just accept that it carried the simple message that all terrorists must be shot dead to achieve world peace!! And neither could I accept that this was the feeling that expressed the thought of all sectors of peace-loving, law-abiding citizens.. no matter what Kamal's character spoke - " nyayath-tha eduthu solla nan yaara irunda enna? .." And when I say this, I am not denying that the whole reference to the brutal murders and violations in Gujarat were not equally soul destroying for me - for they were.. they are!!!
Okay, when it wasn't clear, I started thinking about what, in the film, made it possible for this intelligent ordinary man to get on and achieve his idea of planting five bombs in a city and getting everyone to do his bidding, not just government servants but private agents, including the media, reporters, and geeks?
It was just the social greed, the love for power and a corruption of the soul engendered by the lack of understanding of the great heights to which the markers of modern civilization, such as Law, Police, Medicine, Science, Politics, and all institutions and personnel who are put in place to keep these systems functioning - starting from Country Presidents, Business Barons, Political Achievers - both overlords and mafiosi and going right down to the rank and file, the nuts and bolts salaried folk.
It is not just charity, but peace, too, that begins at home. Why look for voluntary work? Look within and change yourself, be angry with yourself, for being corrupt, for being lazy, for not being your own great self compassionate and merciful, but also hardworking, proud and self-reliant -
TO get back to film reading, the days when the hero advised his audience and manipulated them are OVER - no more can we role-model heroes.. instead here are movies written by many hands and read by many eyes, each one to form his own story... If yu see the film and only blame someone else, you are still suffering from a delusion, a moral-high masque...
13 September 2009
Love 'em All / Hate 'em all - just get some answers down!
We live in a country which is really young, in world timescales, a young democracy. Yet, already it seems that independance has left only the taste of ashes, the odour of hypocrisy and the quelling suffocation of the pillars of democracy by greedy power structures...
Ok, what am I trying to say here? To cut the crap and come to the point, this short essay is a reaction to the issue that is enraging the public now - the stifling of journalists' voices in Srilanka - the killing of Lasantha Wickramasinghe and sentencing of Thissainayagam to jail for twenty years.
At a meeting to denounce this held by the Save Tamils movement, eminent speakers and journalists spoke very sensibly and seriously. In a very intelligent approach to the way this question has been debated in Tamilnadu, the speakers also questioned India's role in the politics of the Lankan War and such happenings as jailing of journalists that have happened in our country as well.
Why is this business treated as a Tamils problem? Is not Srilanka as much a neighbour to Kerala and Karnataka and Andhra as it is to Tamilnadu, and such atrocities as are being forced there on people, ought they not affect all humans and neighbours equally?
Since all political parties here have been tainted with the same tarry brushes, to the point when there is no simple reason to choose one over the other. It would seem to me, now that they have all made their positions secure, at least for the purpose of making their power games more challenging and interesting, they would all get down to playing clean and meaningful politics with the goal of finding a solution to problems at hand!
Ok, what am I trying to say here? To cut the crap and come to the point, this short essay is a reaction to the issue that is enraging the public now - the stifling of journalists' voices in Srilanka - the killing of Lasantha Wickramasinghe and sentencing of Thissainayagam to jail for twenty years.
At a meeting to denounce this held by the Save Tamils movement, eminent speakers and journalists spoke very sensibly and seriously. In a very intelligent approach to the way this question has been debated in Tamilnadu, the speakers also questioned India's role in the politics of the Lankan War and such happenings as jailing of journalists that have happened in our country as well.
Why is this business treated as a Tamils problem? Is not Srilanka as much a neighbour to Kerala and Karnataka and Andhra as it is to Tamilnadu, and such atrocities as are being forced there on people, ought they not affect all humans and neighbours equally?
Since all political parties here have been tainted with the same tarry brushes, to the point when there is no simple reason to choose one over the other. It would seem to me, now that they have all made their positions secure, at least for the purpose of making their power games more challenging and interesting, they would all get down to playing clean and meaningful politics with the goal of finding a solution to problems at hand!
06 September 2009
Sing Along's Peppy Songs - takes you quite back into the seventies.
Sing Along has released their album of songs for young people under the title
"Peppy Songs."
The CD includes a set of eleven songs, with some famous old numbers like "Kookaburra" and "ABCD" as well as new ones. Lively tunes that are a mixture of the old and the new carry these songs. Some of the songs have an undertone of sentimental favourites of yesteryear like "My bonnie lies over the Ocean..." (birdie dance) that quite takes you back in time.
There are two songs in Tamil and other languages too (Tanjavur Bommai and Gopi Chander; both sung with zest by Krishna and chorus)
Recapturing the magic of these old favourites are the singers Krishna; Sunetra; Sumitha; Leena; Anjana; Shilpa; and Ritika.
The music has been arranged and programmed by Gerard Joseph and B Charles is teh sound engineer who has made this possible.
The CD has been produced by Reach Out and Sing Along maybe contacted at
citf2009@gmail.com
The CD is priced at Rs100/-
"Peppy Songs."
The CD includes a set of eleven songs, with some famous old numbers like "Kookaburra" and "ABCD" as well as new ones. Lively tunes that are a mixture of the old and the new carry these songs. Some of the songs have an undertone of sentimental favourites of yesteryear like "My bonnie lies over the Ocean..." (birdie dance) that quite takes you back in time.
There are two songs in Tamil and other languages too (Tanjavur Bommai and Gopi Chander; both sung with zest by Krishna and chorus)
Recapturing the magic of these old favourites are the singers Krishna; Sunetra; Sumitha; Leena; Anjana; Shilpa; and Ritika.
The music has been arranged and programmed by Gerard Joseph and B Charles is teh sound engineer who has made this possible.
The CD has been produced by Reach Out and Sing Along maybe contacted at
citf2009@gmail.com
The CD is priced at Rs100/-
24 August 2009
Weird Angles; Rain and Jasmines - Photo exhibition -II
Weird Angles - 1
Weird Angles - 3
Weird Angles - 2
Weird Angles - 3
Brown Pigeon Love-child With Webbed Feet - a mite Lonely
Oh-Oh - Not So Lonely After All...
Night Bloom - Jasmine
A Blooming Creeper?
Vodka Rain on Jasmine Street!!
A Blooming Creeper?
Vodka Rain on Jasmine Street!!
Janus?
What is a Lie but truth facing a mirror, and what is Truth but a lie viewed from within?
unconscious of the seekers, reality and it's two faces move on to the next debacle!
unconscious of the seekers, reality and it's two faces move on to the next debacle!
20 August 2009
Some Madras Week Events
I will develop this post a bit later at leisure, but to merely mention the events I liked...
1. Songs of MS, DKP and MLV at Hamsadhwani, by Prathibha, Latha, Lavanya, Sujatha, Saindhavi and Subhiksha, on 15 Aug which made me so proud of being a chennai-woman.
2. a film on madras called madras the split city which shows the various different groups in the city.. usually we only think of north chennai royapuram and south chennai mylapore and tiruvanmiyur.. but this film brings out many more splits - splits within each area between the classes and so on - executed by Venkatesh Chakravarthy, MSS Pandian, Srivathsan and Pritam Chakravarthy. at madras terrace house on 17 aug.
3. a talk by S Anvar a muslim historian, film-maker and art photographer, a tamil muslim from Theni. Topic Muslims and Mosques of Chennai hosted by the nawab Wallajah's descendants at their lovely home Amir Mahal...date 19 Aug.
1. Songs of MS, DKP and MLV at Hamsadhwani, by Prathibha, Latha, Lavanya, Sujatha, Saindhavi and Subhiksha, on 15 Aug which made me so proud of being a chennai-woman.
2. a film on madras called madras the split city which shows the various different groups in the city.. usually we only think of north chennai royapuram and south chennai mylapore and tiruvanmiyur.. but this film brings out many more splits - splits within each area between the classes and so on - executed by Venkatesh Chakravarthy, MSS Pandian, Srivathsan and Pritam Chakravarthy. at madras terrace house on 17 aug.
3. a talk by S Anvar a muslim historian, film-maker and art photographer, a tamil muslim from Theni. Topic Muslims and Mosques of Chennai hosted by the nawab Wallajah's descendants at their lovely home Amir Mahal...date 19 Aug.
13 August 2009
Gollapudi Srinivas Awards - A Musical Treat
The day - 12 August 2009, Memorable for being Kamal Haasan's fiftieth year in Cinema since Kala-th-thur Kannama.
Dr KJ Jesudas and group's concert at Kamarajar Arangam was a lovely beginning to the evening, jointly anchored by Uma PAdmanabhan and Shruthi Kamal Haasan.
As Uma Padmanabhan concluded after the concert- it made everyone forget the pains of today's living , even the swine flu scare and gave peace to everyone for the duration of an hour-and-a-half.
Dr Jesudas sang Krishna Nee Begane Baro in his own unique style - full of expressive emphasis on the meaning and really brought the krithi alive as no one else has until now.
The films by Rajeev Menon on Gollapudi Srinivas and the award winners were extremely moving to watch.
The audience warmed to the show as their favourite film personality from Bollywood - the glamourous and talented Ms Rekha walked up to the dais in her timeless beauty and grace, clad in a off-white Kancheepuram silk saree.
Dr KJ Jesudas and group's concert at Kamarajar Arangam was a lovely beginning to the evening, jointly anchored by Uma PAdmanabhan and Shruthi Kamal Haasan.
As Uma Padmanabhan concluded after the concert- it made everyone forget the pains of today's living , even the swine flu scare and gave peace to everyone for the duration of an hour-and-a-half.
Dr Jesudas sang Krishna Nee Begane Baro in his own unique style - full of expressive emphasis on the meaning and really brought the krithi alive as no one else has until now.
The films by Rajeev Menon on Gollapudi Srinivas and the award winners were extremely moving to watch.
The audience warmed to the show as their favourite film personality from Bollywood - the glamourous and talented Ms Rekha walked up to the dais in her timeless beauty and grace, clad in a off-white Kancheepuram silk saree.
02 August 2009
Solar Eclipse July 2009 - The Day The Sun Played Truant and the sky, Spoil-Sport
Event: Total Solar Eclipse in some parts of India - July 2009
We flocked to the beaches to watch the partial eclipse and to see how people responded to it. There were crowds on every beach and many of them were very eager to show that they did not believe in false fears related to eclipses that seem to pass down generations. It was remarkable that some pregnant women turned up at thsi even to show the world that they did not believe that watching the eclipse (with adequate protection for the eyes, of course) would not harm their foetuses.
The actual photos of the eclipse being viewed are not here. These are before the clouds cleared away.
TIRUVANMIYUR BEACH - A CLOUDY START - WOULD THE SKY PLAY SPOILSPORT?
THE CLOUDS STAGE A PRE-ECLIPSE!!!!
ALL EFFORTS FOR NOTHING? VOLUNTEERS FROM CHENNAI SCIENCE FORUM.
I'LL BE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU TEA - NO HARM IN EATING DURING AN ECLIPSE!
BACK HOME, WITH THE GOGGLES MY FRIEND GAVE ME! WOKE MOM UP TO SEE!!
We flocked to the beaches to watch the partial eclipse and to see how people responded to it. There were crowds on every beach and many of them were very eager to show that they did not believe in false fears related to eclipses that seem to pass down generations. It was remarkable that some pregnant women turned up at thsi even to show the world that they did not believe that watching the eclipse (with adequate protection for the eyes, of course) would not harm their foetuses.
The actual photos of the eclipse being viewed are not here. These are before the clouds cleared away.
TIRUVANMIYUR BEACH - A CLOUDY START - WOULD THE SKY PLAY SPOILSPORT?
THE CLOUDS STAGE A PRE-ECLIPSE!!!!
ALL EFFORTS FOR NOTHING? VOLUNTEERS FROM CHENNAI SCIENCE FORUM.
I'LL BE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU TEA - NO HARM IN EATING DURING AN ECLIPSE!
BACK HOME, WITH THE GOGGLES MY FRIEND GAVE ME! WOKE MOM UP TO SEE!!
THERE'S THE SUN - JUST EMERGING TO DISPEL THE MOONY HAZE!!!
MOM WASN'T TOO PLEASED!!! "I'M BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN!" SHE SAYS!!!
MOM WASN'T TOO PLEASED!!! "I'M BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN!" SHE SAYS!!!
29 July 2009
Some Chennai Pics
Chennai-vaasis You must have seen the Royapuram Fishing Harbour in all your years at Chennai!! Well, I hadn't and here are some wonderful images that lodged in my mind!
A VIEW OF THE CHURCH
Did you love the song Vaazha meen? Well, then! Here is the Kombu Thurukkai - looks big like a whale -( Remember the words - Indha Thirumanat-tha Nada-t-thi vai-k-ka Thurukkai Vaalu Annan-go!). Just one of these fishes weighs 1.5 tonnes! Earlier they never used to be able to catch these fishes - now with advanced technology it becomes possible...
These cannot be sold as such, they are auctioned and then salted and sold dry (Karuvaadu! For the Cognoscenti)
Vari-c-coorai - Loads of it from the icy interiors of the boat!
THE CARTS (MEENBAADI) to transfer the cargo to the auction
" YOU THINK THIS IS NEW TO ME?"
MEENBADI vandi hastening away! Tomorrow's my day off!
DIVING PRACTICE...
A VIEW OF THE CHURCH
Did you love the song Vaazha meen? Well, then! Here is the Kombu Thurukkai - looks big like a whale -( Remember the words - Indha Thirumanat-tha Nada-t-thi vai-k-ka Thurukkai Vaalu Annan-go!). Just one of these fishes weighs 1.5 tonnes! Earlier they never used to be able to catch these fishes - now with advanced technology it becomes possible...
These cannot be sold as such, they are auctioned and then salted and sold dry (Karuvaadu! For the Cognoscenti)
Ladies and Gentlemen! KOMBU-T-THURUKKAI!!!
Vari-c-coorai - Loads of it from the icy interiors of the boat!
THE CARTS (MEENBAADI) to transfer the cargo to the auction
" YOU THINK THIS IS NEW TO ME?"
MEENBADI vandi hastening away! Tomorrow's my day off!
DIVING PRACTICE...
MY STYLE IS FREE STYLE...
COLD STORAGE - THE BOAT SAILS TOMORROW
CUTTING ICE TO SIZE
CUTTING ICE - LONG SHOT
CUTTING ICE - LONG SHOT
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