Quo Vadis?

Some childhood memories stay with you for a life time. I remember one tight slap very vividly and I realize the effect it has had on me. I was in preparatory school, a boys school (not sure which year of school) and one day playing near home I said something disrespectful to my cousin and my mum gave me one tight slap. That day she taught me that I had to respect girls as I respected her. The lesson never left me all these days, today people have been surprised when I use the plural for my daughter (neenga, vaanga, ponga) but it is so much a part of me. Since when did children not merit the respect due to them? Respect begets respect. Today when the nation is outraged I choose to keep my silence because nothing will change by making laws or enforcing them. It all begins with the upbringing. Children imitate their parents; if the father is abusive of the mother or child do not expect the child to grow up any different. I sigh every time I see parents dropping their kid...

Why do I like Kung Fu Panda? I ask myself this question despite watching it for the Nth time on TV because I just love the lines in the movie. They may not be original but they strike a chord and make the typical good winning over evil formula that much more enjoyable. And when you have a bumbling, stumbling, fat panda as the hero there is no reason to dislike it is there? And having grown up on a feast of Chinese martial arts movies especially those of Jackie Chan, an animated martial arts movie piqued my imagination even before its release and i had a blast watching it.  Personally I prefer Jackie Chan to the master Lee simply because you can expect comedy and action in good measure and forget the plot. So here we have the typical "Master teach me kung fu" hero, who is so bumbling that it looks highly improbable and for a moment you actually empathize with master Shifu when he despairs at the state of his student Po. The novice is rigorously trained and he...

I am an outkast. Spellcheck corrected it to outcast. Wait, Wikipedia says that means a person with social stigma. I meant to say, I am an outcaste, meaning I am no caste and I am so by choice. Frankly it did not matter then for I do not remember getting any benefit from it during my schooling & college days and when I joined work. My CV does not require it and it was not mentioned in the profile my folks sneakily made when it was the day to do their duty. That I broke their dreams by taking the decision out of their hands only made them upset and it had nothing to do with the caste either. My wife knows her caste but since she gets mine, she effectively got nothing and she has not shed any tears about it. We encountered caste or its euphemism community in the application form for my daughter and the online system would not permit me to leave it blank which I think is a gross violation of my freedom so I opted for the NA. Caste violence has taken many lives, sh...

This post has been published as a part of 'The CBC Tablog.'  The CBC Tablog where CBC stands for Chennai Bloggers Club. About 35 bloggers from Chennai are participating in this blog tag; everyone will write about their favourite city Chennai and what it means to them. Read previous post by Charan here .... (Image from wikipedia)  What is Chennai to me? In one word, Home. If home is where the heart is, my heart is in the right place. Born in Coimbatore , lived in Chennai except for one thing that I miss about Coimbatore , Chennai is always home So what do I like about Chennai: -          History : She is a grand old lady, though the dated history of Chennai nee Madras is 360 odd years from the time of the East India Company, the heart of Chennai Mylapore predates it by 2 milleniums -       Geography : An awe inspiring beach borders an expanding city but the city itself is abundant with vari...

I was tagged by a fellow blogger in 2008 for Christmas, I just thought I will re-post this with the updates for this year. This is an open tag for anyone interested, just copy the questions, add your answers pass the tag. 1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Like the person who tagged me, I haven’t had egg nog. So, I will go for hot chocolate. 2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Back then during childhood Santa was fun, but now gifts are only from my loved ones and often from whoever picks me as their Chris Child 3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We have a real tree that was atleast 15 feet tall and every year we drape coloured lights on it, but the tree was cut down. : ( .This year I will give it a rest. Christmas did not sprout from a tree 4. Do you hang mistletoe? No mistletoe. Haven’t seen one except in Tom and Jerry, when Jerry kicks Tom under it 5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually at the start of advent, n...

There is something about the ITC Grand Chola, this will be the third post directly related to it and is a result of the Indiblogger meet hosted by them earlier. I got the complimentary meal for two at Peshawri their signature North West frontier cuisine restaurant and this post is about that lunch. After much procrastination and faulty scheduling I thought that I should make the lunch occasion special and so decided to use the voucher on the birthday of my better half and so we went there on the 4 th of this month. The fact that both our workplaces are in the vicinity helped our planning. I remember that last time they inspected under the bonnet of my car at the gates but this time they stuck to the regular boot check and then the mandatory flag on by the many security staff led us to the porch, though this time we took a shorter route than my first visit. We were greeted by a Namaste by the entire reception / security team and ushered in. I would have really loved a ...

(This is not a description or a travel guide but my experiences at the temples) I was part of the ITC Grand Chola blog meet and the venue sparked in me a desire to see the inspirations behind the jaw dropping hotel that left all of us awestruck. The inspirations of course are the magnificent architectural marvels of the Chola dynasty of which the temples are the highlights. I had to visit Kumbakonam and Thanjavur on work and since two Chola dynasty marvels are in the vicinity I combined work with pleasure and drove down to soak again in the wonders of our heritage. I decided to drive down via Ulundurpet which was an additional 30 odd kilometers than the shorter Vadalur route though the better roads made the trip smoother. The Ulundurpet route will take you through Jayankondan and then to Gangaikondacholapuram. The town’s name is a mouthful but commemorates the empire of Rajendra Chola that stretched up to the Ganga . The monarch built a capital in this town sadly the only...

This is the second part of the post, the blogger meet itself. I was probably the last entrant for the meet due to a review in office and by the time I entered the Rajendra hall the 60 secs of fame was over. Personally this is the highlight of any blog meet as you can get a brief on the diverse participants. Since I am not good at anything in particular and since my blog is not a specialist blog I try to seek out similar bloggers. I was the last to introduce myself and my twitter handle (@vadapoche) brought a few smiles and some acknowledgements from old faces. Then the choo choo train which left me a little winded and the musical chairs which I moved aside so as to not create any damage to my fellow men or women. I shudder to think what would have happened if I tried to sit on a chair with some unfortunate in between. Since I had no time to break ice and as I could not spot any familiar faces nearby I looked for any team that would have me when the assembly was asked to b...

ITC Grand Chola The ITC Grand Chola – a visitor’s view Was a part of the Indiblogger meet and have been a part of all but one of their meets and as part of the meet am posting the venue and the meet as two separate posts. This is about the venue… The first visit to the Grand Chola is akin to a visit to the Taj Mahal, it can be anticlimactic. Do not get me wrong, there are reams written about both that a certain expectation gets created that may lead to an anticlimax when you actually reach there. The Grand Chola is a 5 star hotel and the Taj Mahal a tomb. First things first, the Grand Chola holds back no punches in its attempt to be the best in its class and it has come out on top. It overwhelms you with sheer presence and the architecture is jaw dropping from whatever angle you may look and it will give you a stiff neck while you are at it. Everything is grand and grand in French is Big, so there! I could help being puzzled by a couple of things when I entered th...