03.27.09
You know you’re a madrasi when..
you can’t sleep without dogs barking outside
you recoil when a girl only says “what the…” (especially so when she leaves out the swear word)*
saravana bhavan is your idea of fast food
in school you were impressed more by geek-two-plaits with her 100 in “maks” as opposed to the hot lil silent number.
after school, the only woman you ever made eyes at was the immigration lady on your way to Amey erica
you can pronounce arulmozhivarman without blinking.
you’re a walking, talking, thair sadam** eating cricket database.
you know its “dh”osa and not “doe”sa
at least once in your life, you’ve hung around in spencers acting cool and feeling so WITH it
32 degree C feels pleasantly enjoyable
you never realized that most of the points made here are about food and geekism and now that you do, you’re still smiling anyway.
dushyant adds:
spot a madrasi on dining table:
u r madrasi :
wen u prefer curd-rice over ice-cream as desert.
wen u swear ” aye ye yo” wen i tell there is no curd.
wen u forget even about curd rice if I put Rajnikant is on youtube
P.S – by request, I add the following to this list.
Hindi seems funny to you. yek gaaun mein yeh kisaan ragu thatha is you’re comprehensive hindi capacity.
03.23.09
Of Sunshine and Summery Mangoes
It’s nearly Spring again!! In a week, we do the Spring Forward daylight saving time! This morning, i saw a tiny tree of the most beautiful pink and purple flowers! Oh sunshine and sweet sweet summer, come soon!
All day, I have been running some simulations, which means I have a lot of time to kill while the computer does all my work for me. So I quickly popped into my favoritest of all cities – Madras!! 
There are so many posts on the net about the fantastic places and experiences people have had in Madras, it’s like I was there all over again! I’m so sated and happy, it was like I had a quick lil visit home.
So I’m not going to write – my mind is absolutely choked with flashes of my crazy city now. Instead, here are links to some of what’s running through my head. Things I did and saw that make me love love love the most creative, affectionate and sunshiney of cities.
02.27.09
Madras! Nalla Madras!
Today was a cloudy, balmy day in Delft.
The sun put in an appearance before lunchtime and kept coming back to peek cheekily every now and then ever since. This is so exactly like the weather in Madras just before the monsoons!
That was always holiday time and it’s invariably connected to pictures in my mind, of sitting in maruti cars (later of corsas) and driving through long long highways, with the crazy wind screaming through the car, a wonderful lovely book that’s just been begun in my hand, mom and dad in the front seat, beautiful prospect of rains, tall tall palm trees bending in the wind, emerald green fields glittering away around the modest brown huts nestled snugly among them, of goats being driven across said highway and dad cursing at the goatherd, little brown kids with huge huge grins waving from the roads, zillion engineering colleges along the way, and the feeling of HOLIDAY in the air!
Knowing where my next indulgence was going to come from, knowing we were going to play all evening and all night and then tell ghost stories, knowing I’d see my mom’s face first thing in the morning and someone’s got my back – I can’t believe I took these things for granted. Okay, maybe I sound cliched. You only appreciate something when you lose it and all that. I just can’t believe how hard this realization is hitting me. Oh, I so NOT pampered at home. Believe you me. I guess I just took some of our social norms for granted.
It’s like some gentle nudge to remind of my blessings. I have such a fantastic family, and such fantastic friends. I got what I’d dreamt and worked for. What’s more, it now looks like I’m going to be able to combine many of my dreams into one single career. Being a writer, a linguist, an innovator and an entrepreneur. There’s nothing more that I could possibly ask for.
This is just so fantastic. Today’s weather has made me SO Happy! It’s good to be easy to please isn’t it? Doesn’t take too much to make you happy!
pictures courtesy: visithra.blogspot.com
09.24.08
Mangatha Coutre – Engeyum. Epodum.
Madras these days seems to have acquired a very international taste. We’re all about German cars, American contemporary art, Australian bikinis, Belgian chocolates and … Dutch food??
But quell the essential Madrasi?? Fat chance!!
Today in madras, we get the best of itialian gelato – and we love flaunting our refined tastes – like this -
Italian softy ice cream
But what we REALLY like – are the local Nannari Flavoured, flourescent coloured susbstitutes like this -
namma nannari ice cream
And oh yes, we all fly abroad for a couple of months a year. We invade Boston, Paris, Milan and Munich. And we bring back our loot to flaunt at neighbourhood Upanayanams (thread ceremonies) and nichiyadarthams (engagements). Its all about the GLAMOUR. That’s what. Don’t we girls just LOVE our Lacroixes and Blahniks? Not to mention the Loubotins. That’s because now, we go for this -
But let’s face it. we hate the heels. we love our flats. we love love love our shiny shimmery 100-rupees-on-the-t.nagar-platform-million-bucks-on-my-feet shoes 
i bought this for 120 bucks on the platform!!
beautiful! and it costs about 150 bucks in madras,..
and we buy them up like crazy, by the zillion, and wear them WAY more often than those epitomes of shoedom which jus’ lie in the closet anyway…
Then, there’s the fork thing. So? the whole world eats with forks and almost the whole world eats with chopsticks…. But we LOVE eating with our fingers!! Im even getting some non-indians seriously into it, here, in Holland. Hey, NOBODY can appreciate manga oorga with a fork! It’s in the fingers baby!!
Finger Smackin
POGO!! Love you!!
POGO ROCKSSS!!!! and you know what else rocks?? CHutti TV!!!! I love!!!!
Chutti Tv!! Cartoons in tamizh!!
When I was shopping to come to Holland, i pillaged and laid to waste stores in madras – like Van Heusen for Women, Allen Solly and Giordano. But my FAVORITE part was when i got to go buy sarees to bring here with me!! Its SO amazingly versatile – the saree – its dignified while being seductive, modest and yet racy, and i think it makes for a completely sexy outfit – its appropriate for ANYTHING. :)
My mexican friend here wants to learn to wear our sarees And all those girls want indian print materials and cotton kurtis. They love the colour and the vibrancy and the flavourful richness of our outfits! Check this one out!!
At Su's birthday dinner! Antonio in Bandini Turban! Gotta love it y'all!!
I love Madras!! And I miss it SO much!! Kisses to the salty marina air!! xoxoxo!
06.24.08
marina and madras
battery, this one is for u sweety!
its a monday evening and we’re a bunch of cousins wit high octane levels – rock music at home and energy levels on high.
and broke :O
!!!!!!!!!!
so we get our rich sis n her guy to come over – pick us up in his awesome red car – its got a bose system wit surround speakers.. (i know!! he’s cool man )
all the way to the marina the music is on and it feels like there’s not a CARE in the world – the beats are floatin ya and the yellow street lamp world is slipping by against the misting windows of ur smoooooooooooth ride
so we park ar the marina.
barefoot on the beach sands – it has to be the best nostalgia trigger ever.
i literally grew up on the marina beach cos we lived close by it – i learnt to make my first kite on its sands – learnt to get it on the air waves – got entangled in the fishnets – found my first huge conch – my first starfish – built countless sand castles, watched them get washed away – also watched my evil bro jump on em (giri im watching u dude ) – jumped waves – climbed the lighthouse stairs ( ENID BLYTON anyone??!?!!?!! that was SO inspired by her ) – oh i even rode horses on the beach!!
the beach has this amazing taste – the minute u get on it, salty air hits ur face and ur lips are instantly salty – i love that about the beaches – it makes u feel so ALIVE in the crowds of the city – the breezes whip ur hair around – the strength of the ocean – the sight of the massive water body is so ELEVATING – you feel the most awesome high EVER
- the marina s clean now – so no glass or plastic or cigarette butts on the marina – so i feel a lot safer on its sands now – it was like going back to a friend who loves u more now that you’ve been away so so long
so as soon as we’re on the sands we gotta go by norms rite? rite. we head for the illegal bajji stands u get assorted, oil reeking, smelly bajjis made of potatoes n onions n CHILLI – yes i kid u not – the chilli, its AWESOME – might give u a heart attack wit all d heat – but what the hell – u live once n the chutney is so heavenly!! u GOT to try it sometime.
battery n i head for the waters. its new moon yeah – n high tide – so its totally dark and the waves are high – pretty much wat i was too – we just walked into the water – further in than any other bunch of people on the beach
The waves, they were WONDERFUL – they hit you with this force and power. Every time a wave like that takes you unexpectedly – its like you were born all over again – it erases every thought, emotion and feeling from your mind – you sense the chill mass of liquid force hit you, drench you, and wash away – and you’re happy.
I turn around and see my family on the sands, laughing at us – im so blessed – behind them all i see is dark anonymous shapes of people boats and parties on the light sand – beyond that – the beautifully lighted beach road, forming a graceful arc with the yellow lamps – broken by black statues of legends that form the identity of my wonderful home town – Madras.
