A rose by any other name

The latest crib is about my name... wish it was smaller - my brother-in-law once said there cannot be a woman who wouldn't be happier thinner and richer. Well here's one that conforms to his idea, but wishes not only were she thinner but also that her name were smaller. Reason - why it's simple - only if it is shorter would my readers - already tired and world weary - would get up, open their email and type the letters and respond to my articles by sending in readers' comments...

Well, I am joking at least partly on the above. Names are always a pain, at least your own are always. they are too bland, too boring , too, long or too short or some such thing... after all not everyone can be a Mimusops Elengi or an Erythrina indica or an Azotobacter or an Anthurium... 

One thing I am glad about is my name being long allows a half-length shortening which sounds adorable. Well not by itself but it sounds adorable because its a half-length shortened form... sort of friendly like..

There was a rush once among parents to name their child something beginning with an A... suddenly you could see little Adityas and Akilas and Anands and Aditis frolicking in the playgrounds merrily... no doubt with the subtext that the race had begun and there was only room for the alphas... My parents thankfully gave me a lethargic S as an initial... It was an S that shaped my whole life and attitude no doubt. Come to think of it the Anands and Aarathis (spelt correct believe me) in my life were just that weeny bit more aggressive -
(no that's a lie -- they were much much more aggressive than that)...

There seems to be no way out of this I am committed to a long set of names...  in practice. However there is a way out in principle - I have all these characters I write about - what a lot of names to name. I can exercise every idea in my head and satisfy every longing too by naming my characters as I please.
Don't be surprise next if you come across a story about a Mimus or a Rina or an Anthuria...

Good Day!

Thirty Rupees Taramani to Adyar

I read in a news report that auto rickshaw fares in Chennai have shot up to such a level that they are more expensive than even flight charges ...I was totally impressed. Do you mean to say I am actually living the life of a princess - taking the equivalent of an expensive flight to office everyday?

The autorickshaw drivers of Chennai are a unique breed.  In every other city I am told they fall in line with the government's order of following a meter rate. I am intrigued by the fact that the Chennai guys alone manage to thwart the government's ideas to impose a check on them. Is it because they have a strong union or is it because they enjoy the patronage of the middle class? I am rather inclined to believe that it is the latter that protects them and makes them so resilient and resistant to change.

I have lived in this city ever since I can remember - I should say that's long enough for me to forget exactly how long - and one way of marking time for me has been the changing auto rickshaw fares. I remember travelling from Radhakrishnan road in Mylapore up to nanganallur and back for just fortyfive rupees. That is a memory from my childhood to be cherished now.

Much later when I was doing my PhD in Matscience, I used to go to my aunt's house in adyar very often - paying the grand sum of thirty rupees, of course haggling over one or two rupees to reach there  - highly hassled and entertained - One day, I was cross with my aunt for some reason and I had with me a fifty rupee note that she had gifted me - so cross that on that day when the autorickshaw dropped me at Taramani, instead of the usual thirty or so rupees I chucked the whole fifty at him and said - Go man  - (though not quite in the same way that Gautami does, rather more famously, in Devar Magan - The bloke was stunned. For a whole minute he looked. First at the fifty, then at me and then in front and started his auto with a vengeance and drove off at top speed before I could change my mind... God knows he must have thought there was something the matter with me...

There are many such auto stories - If I had the talent of R. K. Narayanan I would be able to write an amusing and perhaps even moving account about autorickshaw drivers... but this is all I can do and so let's wait until inspiration really strikes until I can pen down a better story....

The Kudankulam crisis

The crisis at Kudankulam is an example of what can happen if one section is allowed to remain uneducated and under developed. The government is facing this crisis only because it never included these people in the decision making right from the start. In other words the time for nuclear power has not yet come to India.

At this juncture the government is morally bound to stop its development and growth agenda and change the politics drastically to focus on development of backward people and equity and only then can it continue with "Growth plans"...

ISRO and Idinthakarai - a prayer

It is a week of celebrations on the one hand. The Madras High Court completed 150 years yesterday and with the president and law minister and justices of the supreme and high courts coming in it was no small fete, as the size of the invitation card would have you believe...

Today ISRO is going to have its 100th launch... after the recent furor over the Antrix deal and so on this is a welcome celebration for them. Apparently the chairman of ISRO went to tirupati and placed the model of the vehicle that is going to be launched at the feet of the deity for good luck. Anyway, it is clear that the ISRO is very nervous about the launch and wants it to go off successfully... There aren't even any telecasts of the launch from any of the hundreds of TV stations...

But at Idinthakarai it is a totally different story. the people of the village plan to lay siege to the Kudankulam Nuclear power plant and stop the fuel reloading that is planning to take place there today.  Police have warned that they will even resort to force to get the thing done...

Shall I fly to Tirupati to pray that all will be well?

But the Lord there is over busy... individual pilgrims get no chance to even get a glimpse of the deity leave alone stand and pray extensively. The occasional ISRO chairman is who will get some time at the sanctum...
Will He have time to turn and glance at the protestors and avert any disaster from taking place?