"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Shakespeare lived in easier times. If he had to create a Facebook account, a yahoo mail box or simply book an airline ticket, he would have had second thoughts. If there is one chore I dread in today’s world, it is filling up a renewal form – be it for a passport, a driving license, a PAN card or anything else. Take my Passport. The Father’s name, First name and Surname columns ensure I end up with MARUDHAVANAN RAJAN KANAGASABAI - not a simple set of alphabets that you can write on little boxes and hope they are not being misspelled – leave alone pronounced right. No wonder, I have had my passport redone thrice over and my PAN card twice (honest – and I am not joking for once). I guess my parents were in a awfully fouled up mood, when they gave me my name. Rajan, in Sanskrit, means, a King and Kanagasabai is a combination of two words, kanagam meaning gold and sabai meaning hall. They...

As a connoisseur of Good food and living in Chennai for the past decade, I stand witness to the amazing trasformation this city is currently going through, especially on the food scene. Yes, Chennai may not yet be close to Mumbai or even Bangalore in terms of options on the International cuisine, yet, Chennai is fast on the heels and is already home to a huge variety of options, something which was non existant hardly a decade ago. I have been reviewing restaurants for a few leading magazines and famous blogs for the past 5 years and amongst the huge otpions available today, the following are my favourites. A word of caution here, these are, as I said, my personal preferences and has nothing to do with the completeness of the list. The list has nothing to do with any form of ranking as well and is just a list of options. HIGH END (Star Category) Name of Hotel, (part of), Kind of cuisine, Location, Phone number 1 Southern Spice (Taj), Southern Indian Cusines, Nungambakkkam, 044...

Doom in the world outside, rings music to the media man’s ears – goes the old dictum. The aptness of this adage was on display on those fateful few days, which no Patriotic Indian can ever forget - the tragic events on that fateful night of November 26, 2008. Mumbai was burning, for over 70 nightmarish hours, from a cowardly act of terrorism, on innocent humans which claimed over a 175 lives. Indians, irrespective of their religious or regional identities, were glued to their TV sets praying for the brave security forces to weed out the dark forces, while the news channels went on a frenzy to gain TRP's under the guise of 'Breaking News". The nation was up in arms – not only against the dark forces of terrorism, but against the Media in general, for not exercising restraint and crossing all lines, telecasting live, not only the carnage as it unfolded, but sensitive, critical and classified operations and movements of the armed forces. Little did they realize, that this l...

Tirukadaiyur  The Main Gopuram The Name is music to our ears. Having spent most summer holidays of our childhood here, at the palatial homes (Pitchakattalai estate) of our grandparents, legendary icons of the yesteryears and demigods for the people of this quaint little village on the Mayavaram (now Mayiladuthurai) – Nagapattinam highway, the very mention of Tirukadaiyur is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for my cousins, my brother and me. Today, Tirukadaiyur is synonymous with the Sashtiapthapoorthi (60th) or Sadhabishekam (80th) birthday celebrations, and the transformation of the little town from a small and financially insignificant hamlet during my grandparents regime hardly a couple of decades ago, to one of the financial super powers of the Tanjore district, is simply not folklore, but also an indication of the longevity of the average Indian life span, leading to hordes of them thronging this place. Why Tirukadaiyur for this occasion? Legend has...

Here are a few words from Indian English and culture that sometimes have a meaning different from that in the West, and sometimes do not even exist there. However, most of these have their roots from the British, who had colonized India. 1. Petrol bunk: Gas station 2. Out of station: Out of town 3. Auto: A three-wheeled cab – Unique to India 4. Nappy: Diaper 5. Lorry: Truck 6. Native place: Hometown – Unique to India 7. Mixie: A food blender – Unique to India 8. Tick off: Check off 9. Geyser: A water-heating appliance 10. Overtake: Pass a vehicle on the road 11. Interval: Intermission during a movie or Snack break at school 12. Rubber: Eraser 13. Odomos: Mosquito repellant lotion (actually a brand name) – Unique to India 14. Tuition: Tutoring classes 15. Prepone: Reschedule an event ahead of the originally planned time 16. Bollywood: The Hindi movie industry 17. STD/ISD: Abbreviations for: Long-distance dialing 18. Peon: An office handyman 19. Ste...

It was one of those gloomy September evenings at Coimbatore. The holidays were drawing to a close and it was time to drive back to Chennai (where we had moved a few years ago), for another few months of hectic, noisy, polluted metro life. Then the brainwave struck. Lalli’s suggestion to break the monotony of the drive back by a visit to Yercaud, was music to my ears. A couple of phone calls to friends at GRT and we had a Grand room at GRT Skywalk, the latest from GRT stable, waiting for us. The drive from Coimbatore was smooth, though the slow moving early morning truck traffic right until Avinashi, was a huge dampener, especially for my speed hungry Civic. A small break before Salem, to munch on mom’s lovely fluffy idly’s, and we were soon on the road from Salem to Yercaud, which was a breeze. Born in the racing / rallying town of Coimbatore, our weekend drives to the various hills and ghat sections around the city made me a seasoned Ghat / Off roader and this little stretch was no...

The history of photography has recently been rewritten by one single event, the change of the recording media, from Film to Digital. Suddenly, the hobby, which was considered an art form transpired into a technical wizardry. The instantaneous result of a snap on screen meant, there was an opportunity to correct a mistake apart from allowing for experimenting on various settings. In other words, there’s always a second chance. Couple this with other advancements in technology, and any novice, without even the faintest knowledge of the basics of photography or the behavior of light, can pull off decent pictures, thanks to advancement in sensor technology which ranges from basic Auto focus right up to Smile recognition or even character recognizing features. Coupled with image / optical stabilization, a child can shoot a decent picture. The advent of PnS (Point and Shoot) camera’s that fit into a shirt pocket, mobile camera’s with pixelage that put an entry level DSLR to shame and recogn...

Having made decent strides to the ranks of Vice President in the corporate world, my next target was that of a President / CEO. Amidst scores of ‘Thought Leadership’, ‘Think Big’, ‘Aspire Right’ etc funda’s and training sessions, one consistent (and seemingly not so complicated) recommendation by trainers, analysts, consultants and corporate Guru’s caught my attention – Learn to Play Golf was the simple message. Marriages are (were?) made in heaven and Deals are made in Golf courses – the wise consultants assured!!! Substantiating this with a long list of mega corporate alliances, deals and contracts that were made at Golf courses. Reason enough to give it a try – more so, since it would not be a power point based training. So, off I went, embarking on my search for an ideal set of needs, to enter the world of the noble golfing kingdom, Internet sites recommended locating a driving range close to home or work, where trainers would impart basic lessons for starters. “Buddy, I need gol...

The Past : I was born a good 4 decades ago and grew up in a cozy little town called Coimbatore. The whole town was one big family. The postman knew us by name (later on, the policemen knew us even better !). My folks first sent me to PSGR Children's school (later became ALG matriculation) where my childhood frineds Sharatram, Leelakrishnan, K.G.Ramesh, N.Balu, Asha, Aghalya, Vidhya were first aquaintances (i am blessed to be in touch with most of them even today) . The school had only until 6th class (first forum) those days and hence moved to Carmel's, a big and very reputed school in town (some of my best pals here were Ashok Chandy, Pradeep Gidwani, Lloyd Rodrigues, Unnikrishnan, Karthikeyan etc), for my second phase of education, which soon got relegated to the last place on my list of priorities, much to the shock and disgust of my family. My folks were just recovering from their first shock, when they had to comprehend with the second, an even bigger one. Dreams of their...

Have you ever been Guilty of looking at Others your own age and thinking - Boy, i can't look that old ? Well . . . . read on . . . . Last week, I had a meeeting scheduled with a new CEO of an IT Major who I work with. A few minutes early, I was sitting in the waiting room, direcly across her Cabin. The Dog Tag on the cabin displayed her full name. Suddenly, I remembered a Slender, Stunning beauty, with the same name, who was at our college some 25 years ago. I was extremely eager to figure out if it were the same girl (who quite a few of us had a secret crush on), way back in th 80's at college. However, entering the cabin and one look at her, I was like a popped baloon and quickly did away with any thoughts of equating the dream girl with her. This bloated, spectacled woman with the deep wrinkles was too old to have been my classmate. However, she was extremely well mannered and we hit it off like a song. So, before taking leave, I asked her if she went to PSG at Coimbatore in...