Shopping at the Silk city...Kancheevaram.

My sis-in-law had a brainwave suddenly.That we must do some shopping at the source, Kanchi, the silk producer of our state..No doubt it was a great idea, for there we are sure to get some real stuff which will be easy on our purse.But then there is always a possibility of getting duped and if not alert shall be taken for a ride by the smart locals.So she did some spade work, like collecting authentic addresses
refreshed an old contact whose native is Kanchi and discussed about the method of purchase without getting cheated.Smart, eh?? so she is.Then the D day was fixed, and off we went the next day to Christmas.
As our car entered the market street, locals thronged, and tried to distribute cards of silk showrooms.We politely declined and asked for the address we are looking for.They just left without answering and one guy was courteous enough to show us the way.Ah ha..that's what we imagined.After leading us through a narrow drive way, he showed us a shop which wasn't the one we were looking for.But before even we could confirm the address, few men surrounded us and pestered us to get down and forced us to take a look at their showroom.We never lowered our glass and asked our chauffeur to reverse the car.With great difficulty, we managed to get out of that place.
What a start!!..then we located the shop, just a few yards away in the same street.It is actually not a showroom kinda thing, and the person who referred this to us also have made a mention of that.They are loom owners who weaves sarees for orders.They are leading suppliers for some of the biggest silk showrooms in Chennai.
But for people specifically referred by the known source, general public do not come there for shopping.One of our father's colleague who is the native of the city is the family friend of these weavers and have been their customer for many decades.And now we were introduced to them by their daughter.She has rang them up and had told about our visit. We were recognized instantly.
It was a totally different experience, to be fussed over and been welcomed as exclusive members et al.in a place of purchase.Honestly I have not been through such kinda thing before.It was fun and I felt like a royal member,ha ha.We just mentioned our range of requirement, color preferred, and some other specifications. And there it was, fresh from the loom, shining, glittering with gold and silver zari..Oh My..
It was very tough to make a choice.We went there for just four or five pieces.And took some close to two hours for deciding the same.
It was a satisfying trip, for we got what we wanted, that too in the price what we have decided.The friend has given a ring to them and requested to give us the same discount what they normally give them.It was very nice of her to do that.Added attraction is that, some varieties are yet to be launched officially, and we got it from the loom!!! What a feeling to wear something so exclusive...
we bought two Jacquard silks one with gold zari worked and one with gold zari spots.

Thats an exquisite piece of golden embroidery. Fine work on the golden border hi lights the beauty of the saree.I just cant wait to wear it.....

Well I tried to put slide show from the site, by introducing the embed..but failed.. just cant figure whats the problem as I was keep getting an error msg stating 'the tags incomplete'. So just converted it to a video file and here it is. Not happy about the quality and water mark on the show, but cant help it as the software I used was trial version..and also the original time setting is lost and the music stops before the show ends:( ..still HERE it is..just that I wanted, perhaps.

Lost my Crown!!

Ha..yet another date with the demon with the drill. Well that's how I look at my dentist. The guy has become more money oriented me thinks.I had my RCT done by him and he capped it charging me with a whooping bill of 8K , just last year. It was s'ppose to be 'permanent' . But this permanent was only 18 months. Perhaps dentist dictionary has a different definition for that word. And coming to the point, he replaced the crown back and insisted a scaling plus cleaning before doing it. Well do I have a choice at all??. During the process he 'discovered' more 'rooms' for money. I mean, he happens to 'see' some developing cavities. So adviced an x-ray and after reading it he gave a big list of treatment to be carried out. The whole affair may cost me close to 10k!!!. First sitting over today. Touch wood not much of pain as such. I wonder if I need to take a second opinion. And I was sceptical about the job done today for the junior (just my guess) doctor who was attending me was a bit slow and looked nervous. And I heard things like, 'do you know how to mix the fill?' et al !! Think I was a practical lesson today for those apprentices. Bless them all and more me...

An awesome work of the Japanese. I couldnt take my eyes off...Cool. If such a thing happen to be here near by my place, think I would rather sit there staring at it all day, just...hmmm..sigh we neither have power nor water (but for the rainy season) to afford such a stuff around here.

Karthigai Deepam.

Karthigai deepam is a festival of lights.Unlike in the north India where the festival of light is 'Diwali", in south, the fullmoon after the "Diwali" new moon is the festival of lights. Oil lamps are lit and placed inside and outside the house. Sesame oil and little lamps ('Diyas' 'Villakku') made of mud is only used for the occasion. This lighted small lamps are believed to ward off evil forces and usher in joy and purity. Almost all the temples (in south India) celebrate it in a grand manner illuminating the whole complex with such lamps. Still Thiruvannamalai temple and the huge beacon lamp that is lit on the hill top which is visible up to nearly 10miles is the special one. It is called 'Annamalai deepam'.

Here in this place Lord Shiva is said to have manifested himself in the form of a massive column of fire. The celebration starts right from the afternoon onwards on the day of Karthigai deepam. A portion of fire kept inside a container of baked earth is taken to the summit of the mountain. The main fire is lit in the form of lamp and called as 'Deepam' will be brought out of the inner shrine in a gait by the bearers .This 'Deepam' is believed to be a form of the lord Himself. And people in and around this temple village light lamps in their houses after seeing the beacon light on the hill is lit. This festival,signifying prosperity and purity, is celebrated in the tamil month of Karthigai, full moon day is thus a special event,is also an exclusive one in the state of Tamilnadu for it is less known in other parts of India ,and is one of the oldest festival too.

I am a great fan of sunrise and sunset scenes. Generally I get to see a lot of sunsets rather than a sunrise, as I am not an early riser. Our terrace is a great place for watching a sunset. The environment around is rich with green trees and we have a Nursery garden in front of our house which has a lot of greenaries. I enjoy taking pictures of these moments, especially when we have slightly cloudy weather. The colors that appear when the sunsets during Nov and Dec is something magical. Though I pretty well know that an orange sunset is due to pollution in the city, I cant help admiring the beauty.

I have a keen eye for such pictures and whenever we travel, I make it a point to take some shots of sunrise and sunsets. The sunrise I viewed over the river Thamirabarani was really a magnificent one. Wonder if my picture does it due justice.

Another shot I really loved was from river Thungabathra.I had a large collection of the lovely scenes, which I lost permanently because of my HD crash. But I always share my pictures with my friends and family members, and Gmail has auto saved it.And this one is such a picture. The

river was running full from bank to bank and the difference in the level of it can be clearly seen here. It was a wonderful experience.

NISHA and my SUV

It has been more than ten days since our SUV has gone for servicing. It is a wonderful Toyota vehicle with absolutely no complaints. Sad it got in to the nasty water surge of the basement parking. I may sound a bit evil, but I cant help the urge to screw the neck of the gate security of our building.
On that ill fated day, after hubby has returned from work, our chauffeur parked the car inside, and informed us that there was some collection of water which he has pumped out. I came down before bed, around 11pm to chk the water level.It was raining non stop for third consecutive day and the road was inundated.I found the water was slowly trickling through the stopper from the threshold of the main gate in to the basement.I enquired the security guy if he knows how to operate the pump to flush out the water if it happens to raise.(The regular guy who does it was not on duty that day). The old man shook his head in affirmation and assured he will take care of the things.I went down to the basement and chked the draining pit which was already filled up to the brim.Was a bit worried but then it has never happened before , the flooding of this parking area.Took a look around, there was a Chevy Aveo, Toyota Corolla, and Suzuki, Swift..
My SUV looked like a giant,inside that low roof.Ah..I dismissed the thought of flooding and went up without knowing what was in store for me.At around 4 am the doorbell rang and the security was there to inform us that the water has raised quite high in the basement.
The stupid fella didnt know how to operate the pump and was scared to go in the water to switch it on.The water has in meantime has slowly and steadily risen.In the morning when we came down we saw only the roof of the other cars and our giant submerged up to seat level. But that was enough to damage the electronic set up inside. The tow guys came and pulled it out around 10 am and it was sent to the servicing center.
Then came the ordeal.The insurance guys were wee bit reluctant to accept the claims of the servicing people. The servicing team wants to go easy on their job, -plug, unplug kinda job they prefer.They just want to remove the parts whatever is under doubt, without giving it a chance...
And the charges they quote is something with which I can buy another small car..
And I wonder if our vehicle will ever make it outside that den!!!

Well it is been more than week since the attack on Mumbai is over. More news about the horror, more inputs, more stories..by the survivors, and by the bereaving families...Interesting point is, the media's attitude in this whole affair. My acquaintance with Mumbai is very brief, that too very long ago. But I am sure, just Taj, Oberoi and CafeLeopold are not the only places that represent Mumbai.
The sufferings and the pain experienced by the people trapped inside these places, are no doubt anything insignificant.But what happened on the platform of CST station is also equally horrifying. And the picture here and a few more with scattered blood stains on the platform is the one I saw repeatedly used by all the channels
And not much coverage on that.The enormity of the incident was not projected at all.WHY??
Do I gather that, it is because the people died there are commoners?? and they are used to sufferings so can mend it on their own, but the the elite group cannot take things that way??
Sad, very sad.
Worst part is that the media cashing in on the situation calling every report on the episode as 'exclusive'!!!..another dangerous trend that I witnessed is the projection of angry public, who in their emotion talks ill about the politicians and demand the removal of existing Government, and randomly declare that we must wage a war on Pak..et al.No doubt we are angry, but this sort of wrong projection creating commotion and restless atmosphere is not healthy. It will promote animosity among the people and the aim of integrity at the time of crisis will be lost totally..

India going on a war at this juncture is not wise. The credit crunch has already taken its toll and it is indeed hard to sustain a balance if further chaos is created by something big like a war breaks.
What's more worrying is the propaganda of the channels are gaining popularity and also winning.
The resignation of the home minister came as a surprise. We have seen worst condition even before. Bomb blasts, train set ablaze, serial killings by the terrorists inside and outside India.Not to mention the daily deaths in the valley of Kashmir by some means or other implemented by the so called terrorists.But it took an attack on Taj hotel to make the minister resign!!!....

Sixty hours of senseless terror rage.

Taj Mahal of Agra was Shah Jahans memorial to the woman he loved-This Taj Mahal, the heritage hotel, icon of Mumbai, was Jamsetji Tata's gift to the city he loved. Any sailor who enters the B'bay harbor will be greeted by the magnificent hotel first. The Gateway of India came much later(20 yrs). Even now with so many high raised buildings in the skyline, this hotel attarcts the attention first. And this heritage monumental beauty was chosen by some mindless fanatics to be blown. Even though they have failed in doing it, enough damage has been done, and many lives lost in the process.The captured terrorist has confessed that they had planned to blow up the hotel and bring it down, a replica of the attack on the Mrriott, Islamabad. Alas they misjudged the strength of the super structure of this pride of Mumbai. It is a puzzle why the Indian Government never beefed up the security after the blast in Islamabad , when this kind of reverberation from across the border is always possible

This peaceful fishing village at Cuffe Parade on the edge of Mumbai's financial district was the unwitting launching pad for what is being described as India's 9/11. Authorities say a band of gunmen estimated to have numbered up to 25 disembarked onto rubber dinghies from a ship offshore before landing here and dispersing to several locations in the city's south.
Witnesses described the gunmen as young men in their 20s dressed as typical Mumbai youths in jeans and t-shirts. The government alleges they were members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Islamist terrorist outfit from Pakistan.
On Wednesday, November 26,the men reached the luxury five-star hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, by around 10 pm where they entered through the lightly guarded back entrance, slaughtering a guard and sniffer dog. Within hours the building, a Mumbai landmark, was ablaze. Terror attacks took place in 10 places across Mumbai.Apart from Taj, Hostages were held at Trident hotel, Cama hospital and Nariman house. By day 2 at least 76 dead, 110 were injured.Army was called out in Mumbai. They stormed the Taj hotel and taken position at Trident hotel. Deccan Mujahideen, a very little known outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.Five columns of army, 200 NSG commandos were called to tackle the situation.

Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare died after being shot thrice during the combat. The random firing and killing of innocent commuters at the CST was the most heart breaking scene. The guests at the Trident were also held as hostages and many were killed, as one of the survivor described, they shot at anything that moved. The next target was the Nariman house, Colaba. It is a jewish religious center, and the islamic terrorists stormed in there and took the rabbi and his wife as hostages along with other 3 persons present there. All five were killed by them in the end, despite the brave attempt of the NSG commandoes who were para dropped on the building close by.They fought a pitched battle against them at close range.

After 60 hours of fierce battle between the holed up terrorists and the security forces, the siege came to an end. By that time the toll had already risen to 200 and the injured to 900 plus.

Fourteen police officers, including the chief of the anti-terror squad, were among those killed in the attacks. The loss of innocent lives can never be compensated.

The nightmare is over, but the impact will take a long time to subside. Blaming a particular religion is not going to help in anyway, and I think we must find some means to stop the funding of the outfits that train these lads. If we work in that line, taking the Pakisthan also on our side perhaps such tragedy may be averted in future. Hatred breeds more hatred and as we blame the oridinary Muslims, the real culprit under the mask will thrive and slid through. Once the pride of India's financial capital, it is now also a symbol of the failure of its government to take adequate steps to protect its citizens from terrorism.

.

Siege and Deluge

27th Nov, a black Thursday..
Woke up to the noise of gunshots, Mumbai under siege..I watched the news that followed in disbelief. Sad, really sad. People been shot randomly, killed just like that, like birds and animals by the hunters. Value of human life is so cheap in our country.
And the star Hotels taken /captured by militants..wahwah..what a security system we have. Amazing. Long live the politicians who runs buses to Pak.
Bless them who soft pedals the issues with the terrorists, fearing the vote bank from the minorities.
I dunno how I can suppress the rage that surges drowning me in emotion.
Drowning, yes Chennai is right now under knee deep water. I am in a deluge. Courtesy cyclone Nisha. I stay in T.Nagar and our street gets clogged for drizzles, then imagine the amount of water thats running at cyclonic condition. when I was a child I remeber seeing something called 'storm drain'. And water will drain through it during rains. Its a big puzzle how can such a big city survive without storm drains.I honestly dont understand why the corporation of Chennai doesnt maintain them. Whatever canals present at some places are either blocked by some construction or filled with rubbish. Kudos to our officers.