THE PANI PURI PHENOMENON

Before I start, let me remind you all that I am a panipuri-holic. BIG TIME! Kolkata was where this addiction started and it has continued, age doing no good in ridding me of the addiction. I for one make it a point to try out pani puri at every city/town/village I have been to(ok that was a bit of an exaggeration. I haven’t really been to any village yet that serves pani puri. B)) I guess Moving back to our ancestral house in sowcarpet was a blessing in disguise because back then you could get QUALITY pani puris only here.

My pani puri mate through all these years has mostly been my cousin who is two summers younger than me. After we joined college, we’ve not been able to spend much time together but whenever we do(mostly for shopping B-)), we make it a point to have a plate of pani puri along the way. Today was no different. Having made our customary pani puri pit stop, we headed off along MINT STREET.

MINT STREET. Interesting name. History books say the street was so named because of the presence of presses along this street where money was MINTed back during the post independence area(or was it the british era? Am not too sure. Besides, I was never good with history anyway :P). But now, considering the amount of chat shops on this road and taking into account that whatever be the dish, the main ingredient happens to be mint chutney, I guess the place couldn’t have been more appropriately named. B-)

Which brings me to my point.5 years back, the nearest pani puri shop was a 15 mins walk from my place. Now, there is a minimum of two in every street. And believe me, am not exaggerating! Take the case of mint street. I did a little survey today of the pani puri shops along mint street and the figures are quiet stunning. There are a total of 27 shops selling pani puri along a 400m stretch! The numbers are approximate, cos, What the heck, the count might have increased as I type this post. :P

What makes these shops tick u ask? It might have something to do with the steady growth of the north Indian population here in namba chennai. It might have something to do with the Chennai people becoming more OPEN to north Indian food and customs. Or it might simply have to do with the fact that pani puris are SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE!

Whatever be the case, recession or ‘End of the world’, as long as its sowcarpet or kilpauk, the pani puri phenomenon will keep going strong. If ever you plan on becoming an entrepreneur in the future(like that kid in the CYCLE REPAIR SHOP ad ;)), try opening a pani puri shop. Small investments, big rewards guaranteed. :P

Until next time,

Keep smiling,

ADIOS!

Its time we wake up, its time we CHANGE!

FOREWORD: If u are looking for humour or the usual masala ingredients in this particular blogpost, i guess u better turn back, this would definitely not be what u are looking for. and this means u, ms.pavi anandan. :P :D

Who says an idle mind is the devil's workshop? today afternoon had me surfing across channels when i happened to chance upon AIRCEL-CHENNAI SPEAKS OUT, a program being aired on a private news channel(well ok, i was bored, and i was aimlessly flipping through channels, that's how the news channel came about. :D :P) The topic for the day was corruption and the measures that could be adopted to control it.

Well, this got me thinking.

Before i get going on this topic, i think u should try answering the questionnaire given below:

1. How many times have we obeyed traffic rules?

2. How many times have we stopped behind the line at a traffic signal(when a traffic sergeant/good looking member of the opposite sex is not around :P)?

3. How many times have we waited in line for a ticket or for filling fuel in your goddamn vehicle!(or if u are a student of India's no 1 private university, how many times have u waited in line to deposit your bag before your semester exam)?

4. How many times have we not parked our bikes in front of someone else's front gate and/or in such a way that no other vehicle can get past your bike to the other side of the road(well if u are a resident of sowcarpet, i can confidently say that the answer for this particular question would be NIL)

5. How many times have we waited for our turn to speak(and they say if you wait for your turn to speak, you will never get past your GROUP DISCUSSION stage during job recruitments! :$)

6. How many times have we not bribed someone to get our job done?

7. How many times have not spit on the road(once again, if you are a pan chewing marwari living in sowcarpet, the answer would be NIL without an iota of doubt)

Well considering today's situation, i guess everyone(yup, me too) would have got 'nil' as the answer for the major portion of the questionnaire. I guess this would be a wake up call for all of us. We fail to realise that we are just as shallow minded and ignorant like the people running the nation. Well i dont really blame them, they are people just like you and me. What i am saying is, change has to come from within. Only when the common people start obeying rules, show more respect to people around and start showing some civic sense(people of sowcarpet, are you listening? :@), I guess India will change. They say India will be a super power by 2020, I say India will still remain on the list of 'developing countries' unless and until the people change.

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE.

Until next time,

ADIOS!

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF SOWCARPET #3

My 3rd post in this series. have fun.

Having lived the majority of my "vevaram therinja vayasu" life in the bylanes of sowcarpet, i thought it is time i share its secrets with the rest of the world.

here it goes: SOWCARPET-REVEALED!

5 THINGS YOU WOULD FIND IN SOWCARPET:

1. low hip jeans clad guys and kurti-leggings clad girls munching on pani puris, sandwiches and other authentic sowcarpet street food.

2. pot bellied men sitting at pawn broker shops(in chennai tamil terms, ada namba saetu(seth) kada paa ;D ) feasting on jilebis dripping with sugar syrup and/or kachoris soaked in spicy mint chutney.

3. Garment shops selling duplicate products of reputed brands along with pretty cheap shirts in colours so bright, they could render you partially blind. :P

4. T-R-A-F-F-I-C!!!!!! - like God, traffic is omnipresent in sowcarpet. ;P
of course the concept of the existence of God is quite complicated. so here's something simpler, the probability of finding a sparsely crowded street(asking for an empty street would be over ambitious) in sowcarpet is as high as finding a polar bear in antarctica!!! :P
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_you_find_Polar_Bears_in_Antarctica

5. tons and tons of milk sweets in shops. and an equal amount of garbage and trash on the streets adjoining them.

5 THINGS YOU WOULDN'T FIND IN SOWCARPET:

1. basic civic sense- if u live in socarpet, u can spit pan and throw garbage anywhere you want, the "anywhere" could also include the roof and terraces of the adjoining houses.

2. basic road sense- if u live in sowcarepet, u can park your bike anywhere you want, even if its the middle of the road or the entrance to your neighbour's house!!!

3.parking space!!! this place is so damn crowded that people opt to go for an extra living portion they could rent for rather than prrovide the tenants with proper parking space. the result is that the vehicles to be parked inside spill out onto the roads and crowd the already small streets making them inaccessible even by foot. :S

4. trees, greenery- what the heck, its difficult even to find a proper open space here!!!!

5. P-E-A-C-E O-F M-I-N-D!!!!!

that's it. the secrets are out. if u still think sowcarpet is fit for inhabitation, you can always contact me. i'll get you the chief doctor of kilpauk government hospital's number. he could guarantee you a bed and living space there cos that's where you are gonna head to if u reside here for 10 yrs.

surely, this place is not for the faint hearted.

your future is in your hands, pls dont risk it by moving into sowcarpet.

stay safe, pls dont try this.

until next time,

ADIOS!!!!!!

SOWCARPET- revealed

If you've been reading any of my previous posts, you'd by now be knowing how much i hate this place-the traffic, the pollution and the people's total lack of basic sense(people here have the least concern for their neighbours, its always about them and them alone)

I could keep going on and on about how much i hate sowcarpet, but people would find it hard to believe, considering how popular sowcarpet is.

But i've got proof!!!

finally!!

Here's a photo that was taken very recently near my house- an example of how people park their vehicles here.

That bike remained parked there for the next 30 minutes. if this is the case with lesser crowded streets, imagine how it would be along mint street or N.S.C.Bose road. People would just start parking their bikes parallel to this guy's bike and consequently, the width of the already small lane decreases even more. then why wouldn't you have traffic jams. :@

.There's no point in complaining about traffic when you are the ones creating it.

c'mon people, grow up. learn to respect the world around you

And i'll definitely be back with more startlingly disturbing pics of sowcarpet.

until next time,

adios!!!!

Traffic, traffic and more traffic

The exams are over and the rains have stopped (well, not really but atleast the frequency has come down). No better time to head off to practice. And that’s exactly what I did.

Two days of movies after the exams and the third day I was off to practice. I set off for practice at 3 and 20 mins later, I was in the ground. A hour and a half of practice and one hour of football later it had turned dark. And I knew straight away that I was in for a long drive back home.
I practice at st.bede’s school playground(I did my schooling there), my cricketing haven for the past 10 years! The ground in itself is huge and so is the parking lot. A couple of college buses are parked here in the evenings.


After a grueling practice session, the last thing you need is to be stuck in traffic. My troubles began in the ground itself. The driver of one of the buses had parked his bus rite in my car’s path in such a way that I couldn’t reverse my car without banging into the bus. Luckily, there was some space between my car and the adjoining one. My driving skills were put to the test and a few tense minutes later, I successfully managed to manouevre the car outside without any real damage to my car.


My woes didn’t stop there. Beach road which is usually free had a huge traffic jam today. I covered about 1 km in 10 mins, during which I drove only in first gear!!! Aaargh and it didn’t stop there. One more traffic jam near central station followed. Handbrake, first gear, handbrake, first gear, handbrake, first gear was what followed as it took me another 10 mins to cross the central bridge.


And if you thought my traffic problems stopped there, then you are definitely wrong. That’s where the real trouble began. As I entered wall tax road, my traffic woes reached extraordinary heights. The people here have no regard for traffic rules and even if they come and fall on your vehicle, you are at fault. As if this wasn’t enough, the numerous cargo/goods carriers ( flat bodied rickshaws, tempo travelers, etc) make it almost impossible to drive here. And that was exactly what happened today. I was driving along smoothly when a rickshaw puller in front of me suddenly decided to take a wild right turn. I had to brake suddenly and in the chaos that followed, a Honda activa almost banged into me!!! I had no other option but to curse them under my breath and drive away.


10 more bp raising mins on walltax road later, I finally reached home!!! My goodness, I’ve had more than a few bad days behind the wheel but today was definitely the worst of them all. It took me nearly an hour to reach my home from the ground (which at any other time of the day would have taken just 20 mins). All I had done was start a couple of mins late from the ground. And this was what I got, one hour on the road, a few heart beat raising moments and a stiff back!!! Sowcarpet might be a preferred destination for many but it still fails to impress me. All I’ve seen in sowcarpet is traffic, traffic and more traffic. The only thing that keeps me rooted to the place is the totally delicious pani puris they serve here. But times have changed. With the marwaris moving out, chaat shops have sprung all over the city. This comes as a huge boon for me. Mark my words, two more years and am out of this goddamn place.


P.S: Planning to watch avatar with my cousins tomo. So my next post will most probably be a review of the movie.


AND YEAH, HERE’S MY SMS PICK OF THE DAY:


“BELIEVE WHERE OTHERS DOUBT.
WORK WHERE OTHERS REFUSE.
SAVE WHERE OTHERS WASTE.
AND YOU’LL WIN WHERE OTHERS LOSE.”

So keep working, keep winning.

Until then,

ADIOS!!!!!