Quo Vadis?

There are brave people and there are brave people. It takes a particular kind of bravery to be called truly brave. It takes one kind of bravery to eve tease, rape, kill, plunder, lynch and destroy because one is in the company of many other similar brave persons It takes one kind of bravery to come into public life and hide from the same public behind several layers of security men It takes one kind of bravery to deprive the right of others because of the family background and positions held It takes one kind of bravery to do what is wrong because of the web of deceit and lies that has been spun by some for their ulterior motives It takes one kind of bravery to trample on those below oneself because of the person’s baggage of unearned but inherited privileges It takes one kind of bravery to turn a blind eye to all the wrongs that go on in one’s presence It takes one kind of bravery to stand up for what is right despite the world disagreeing It takes...

Silly Hindians, not knowing & not using are 2 different things. You don't know that many here know Hindi, you only know that we choose not to use Hindi, because it's our choice. Frankly it’s none of your business, what we wear or eat or speak. There is a lot of Hindi everywhere in Tamilnadu and often many are forced to use Hindi to communicate to the staff. If you observe closely there are many non native workers in Tamilnadu in the service industry. While many other states may have a welcoming attitude to people from other states who take up local jobs Tamilnadu has always welcomed them. Chennai or Madras has always been vaazha vaikkum Chennai, meaning it gives room for people to earn their bread in their chosen field. We still have Chinese dentists (the last few sadly) who don’t speak Mandarin here but Tamil to their patients in their clinics near Flower bazaar, Chennai. The supervisors of many service industries from shops, security service to hotels give instruc...

Romeo & Juliet, the classic tragedy by Shakespeare, reimagined and adapted to the music of AR Rahman, presented by a Dance Company. The show was produced by an actress / dancer with a film back ground that should ensure good production values in addition to good media coverage. The sum of it all seemed to be a Sunday evening well spent when I bought the tickets for yesterday’s performance. The show started half an hour late which was a good thing considering the parking challenges and the traffic, the sparse crowd in the balcony also gave us a choice of seats in the free seating Music Academy.  The opening credits started with the National Award winning “Chinna Chinna Aasai” that made me feel warm inside and look forward to the evening ahead. The stage had very basic props with one gazebo hardly being used and seemed to be taking up unnecessary space, the famous Juliet’s Balcony however on the other end of the stage was used more and despite the lack of height it s...