Powered by Blogger.
Showing posts with label Gemini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gemini. Show all posts

Sunday, 30 August 2009

Fighters at the circle

This statue of kalaripayattu chekavars was installed at the Gemini Circle earlier this year, replacing the rather inconsequential piece which was loitering at this space. This statue is one of the six which were installed around the same time, each representing a cultural facet. While the other statues depict dances and staged performances, this is the only one showing off martial skills. Does the placing of this statue make any statement about the jostling for space around the Gemini Circle?

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Colourful wall

It apparently happened in January this year, but it was only a few days ago that I noticed it. Going past the normally bureaucratic-gray western wall of the US Consulate at Chennai, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But no, there it was, in glorious colour. Only that my initial impression of random graffiti on the consulate wall was not entirely correct.

It is graffiti alright, and according to Andrew Simkin, the US Consul General for south India, it is the first time that a US Consulate's wall, anywhere in the world, has been allowed to display graffiti. This work, 115 feet long and 4 feet wide, shows lots of hands being held, doves flying, trees, books and a very noticeable combination of the Indian and US national flags. The entire painting project was coordinated by the well known art director Thota Tharani on behalf of the NalandaWay Foundation and executed by 30 children who had been rescued from trafficking / bonded labour.

Surely the cheer on this wall can be replicated in other government-gray buildings the world over - and possibly change the drabness of bureaucracy everywhere!

Sunday, 1 March 2009

One-glass building

There are several buildings in the city that appear to have been abandoned half-way into their construction. The hotel that was originally intended to be the Magunta Oberoi is a very visible example, right on Mount Road, but there are several others all over the city. One such is this 10-storey builidng which is also on Mount Road, but does not catch the eye so readily because it is next to the Gemini Flyover and sheltered from view on almost all sides.

Also not so readily apparent is the ownership of this building; one theory is that a former Prime Minister's son had taken up this project with funding from a Chennai based bank but had to pull out when the bank was caught in a scam in the mid '90s. Another theory credits the scam for work on the building being halted, but points to an entertainment group as the owner. A third theory is that some apartments in this building had already been sold to individual owners and the holdup is because of a dispute between some buyers and the seller. For evidence in support of the third theory, they point to that window on the 8th floor - the only one that is covered with a glass window pane.

No, it is not that this apartment is occupied. It is said that the owner has been able to generate some revenue by renting his apartment out for movie shoots - and it has been used for several - where the interiors are re-created for each movie. The glass window pane however seems to be a standard fixture!



Okay, I'm stretching it a bit.... it is 'Theme Day' today and the theme is 'glass'... my best 'glass' photo and story was posted long ago! To see how other City Daily Photobloggers around the world have interpreted the theme, click here.

Wednesday, 24 December 2008

The Eater's Digest - 5

The area around Gemini Circle is teeming with offices. Many of the office complexes here were built at a time when cafeterias in offices was an unheard-of concept. Chances are the employees wouldn't have liked it, too, because they were used to bringing lunch in their tiffin carriers; an all purpose 'lunch room', which doubled up as storage space and many a time as a nice snooze spot was all they asked for, so the multiple storeys of the tiffin carriers could be spread around and maybe a communal lunch had with the colleagues.

As the pace of the workaday increased, lunch from home became a rare luxury; add to that the Parsn Manere coming up as an office complex for small businesses, many of them were just half the size of a lunch room anyway. That's when there was an explosion of lunch options within half-a-kilometre radius of the Gemini Circle. They included roadside vendors, lunch deliveries, dinky little vehicles with candy-stripe awnings that would drive up, park and unfold their wares at lunch time only. Many of those options, especially the step-out-of-office-to-eat ones, died out quickly. Palimar is one of the survivors from that era of the 1980s.

Of course, the food is not what it used to be. Somehow Palimar seemed to be always opening another restaurant somewhere else; those would be good for a while, but would then shut down rather quickly. With so much of attention focussed on the new locations, the quality at the 'original' Palimar has kept on its downward track, more's the pity!

Thursday, 12 June 2008

And why is this here?

I like this photo. Without meaning to, I seem to have got a picture that shows stillness - and quiet - in the middle of one of the more crowded parts of Chennai. I hadn't seen this statue (it does seem too small to be called one, doesn't it?) at the Gemini Circle earlier. I'm fairly sure it was added on sometime at the end of May.

As with some of the other statues around the city, this one too does not seem to have any particular significance and looks to be a random act on the part of some authority. Having first noticed it from the rear, I just had to go around and take pictures from the other side also. Apart from the work itself looking much better from the rear, the other pictures did not convey the feeling of serenity in this one. If you've passed through Gemini Circle during peak hour traffic, you'll surely know we could do with a lot of calm at that spot!



Sunday, 18 May 2008

A vision in white

It just gleams in the heat. Now that it is peak summer in Chennai, it just gleams most of the daytime. And having the rather dull tones of the Gemini Parsn complex next to it, The Park just stands out if you glance up from the midst of trafffic at the Gemini Circle. The outside of the building is very straightforward and very simple. It is a theme that the hotel has tried to mix with the silver screen legacy of the place it stands on - the site of the erstwhile Gemini Studios. The total effect is bewildering: simplicity sandwiched with over-the-top bling, a combination that can take a while to get accustomed to.

Check out the tents right on top of the building - they're around the pool on the roof and if you're so inclined, you could have lunch inside one of those tents. With the heat being what it is, you would be mad to try it these days. And you'd be mad if you passed up a chance to be there by the poolside after sundown - the view is terrific, the breeze has set in well and.... well, what more do you want? Just ask - this was fantasy land once, after all!



  ©Chennai City Updates. Template byDLL Incorporation.

TOPO