Morning on the Marina

I did not think that taking a picture of the early morning Marina would be so difficult. My lack of photography skills meant that whenever I pointed the camera to the sea, I got lousy pictures.

And then I saw these two gentlemen. You must remember that along its length from the Triumph of Labour statute to the Lighthouse, the morning Marina is the place for limbering up one's body. On any day, there would be hundreds of people doing various things to make sure their bodies are toned up. Not for them the air-conditioned, claustrophobia-inducing gyms and health centres that seem to have come up at every street corner. They are the people who crave the sun and the wide open space to refresh both body and mind. And so there they were, the slow walkers, energetic runners, t-shirt ripping muscle builders and all manner of exercise takers.

But these gentlement were unique. Looking quite different from each other in many respects, they were united in turning their backs to the sun. That set them apart completely from almost all the others. No one else seemed to be as sure of their 'look west' policy as the two of them. Taking a cue from their certainty, I pointed my camera in the same direction as they were facing - for much better results than I had had until then. All those lovely photos planned of the Marina will have to wait for another day.

Overlooking a bridge

At some time, the Kodambakkam bridge was part of schoolboy chants and taunts; the second railway overbridge on the Beach - Tambaram suburban line, it once commanded an uninterrupted view of the Chennai skyline. Some of my friends have told me that, when the LIC building caught fire on July 11, 1975, they could see it burn from the top of the Kodambakkam bridge. And I can imagine that, 30 years ago, the only other tall structure between the bridge and the LIC building would have been the steeple of the Church inside the Loyola College.

Today, one can look down at the Kodambakkam bridge, in a way. While there is no place to stand or walk on the new flyover connecting North Usman Road with Mahalingapuram Main Road, I somehow expected the top of this flyover to be on level - or just slightly taller than the bridge. The photo shows otherwise - or is it just a trick of the eye?

And see those skeletons of the hoardings? Being on private buildings, they are spared the Corporation cutdown - but are they going to remain like this?

A lot of paper

I like to believe that both the Times of India and I got our launch timing wrong. Their Chennai edition was launched on April 14 - I'm sure they went with the assumption that Tamil New Year is 'always' on the 14th. And unlike this blog, they weren't nimble enough to change the launch date:)

The TOI has been threatening a Chennai edition for a long time; I'm not sure of this, but I believe one was even brought out for a short while before folding up. This time around, Bennett, Coleman & Co. seem to have got it right. This edition will stay.

Was tempted to subscribe to it; the 'Charter Subscriber' offer included a 'certificate showing that you are one of the first to subscribe in Chennai', a thermos flask and a price of Rs.299/- for the first year. A month's supply of the newspaper would weigh about 5 kilos and at a rate of Rs.5 for old newsprint, the subscription pays for itself. Sound reasoning alright, but just didn't get the cheque across to them (wasted a cheque leaf in the process). The quality of content is better than what I remember of the Delhi or Kolkata editions, but not something that makes me want to throw away 'The Hindu'.

Like I said, the TOI seems to have got it right. With a hint of smugness, today's paper tells us that they will set right their distribution; that makes me feel very guilty about depriving early subscribers of their due. I should have told my paperkaaran yesterday (once again) that I do not want the TOI. Will do that today.

Going around in circles

The British Council in Chennai has this nice backdrop in the library. They don't take it too kindly to folks pointing cameras inside so I've had to be content with this photo, taken when there was the ceremony of distributing certificates to children who'd completed the 'Big Wild Read' programme.

The British Council Library (BCL) in Chennai has been around for quite a while. I always get to it feeling that it is one of 'my places' - after all, I've been going there since the early '70s: but once inside, the BCL seems to tell me that it expects me to be more regular in coming there. And so the promise is made, to spend more time in the BCL. Until the next excuse comes up!

Long shot: Chennai Central, exterior

The wisp of smoke climbing up from behind the facade is certainly not from a steam engine pulling into the Madras Central. That age is gone, of course, and has taken with it one of the stock shots of Tamil / Malayalam movies - the hero arrives in the big, bad city. Though it is now the headquarters of the Southern Railway, this wasn't the first, or even one of the important railway stations for quite a while. The stations at Royapuram (one of the oldest in India), Trichi and even Madras Egmore could reasonably claim to have had a greater importance for most of the 19th and the early 20th century.

But as it stands, it is one of the most crowded stations in the country, partly because it has just 13 platforms to serve the long distance travellers. In recent years, changes to the frontage have given more prominence and visibility to the red and white building that has been lording over Chennai for just over a century, now. I believe the best time to be there is early in the morning, when the station is still cool and everyone in it is optimistic about the day ahead!

New sightings

So what's missing here? Over the past few days, the Corporation of Chennai has been at it, chopping down hoardings and revealing parts of the city that have been hidden for decades. Was too surprised to photograph the missing cinema hoardings in front of the Presentation Convent at Thousand Lights - they have been one of the defining features of the city, and now they're gone! Got this new view, though, at the Spencer's Junction: it used to be hidden by the Amul hoarding, but now Quaid-e-Millat college shows off its green! There are so many other parts where such hidden beauties are coming to light; and there are also many places where the skeletons of the hoardings are now covered with rags and make for a more unsightly skyline than earlier - maybe it does have to get worse before it gets better!

Happy New Year!

Guess what? This had to start a day earlier! Somehow Tamil New Year has (almost) always been on April 14th.. but this year it has come a day early.
This is the last time that the Tamil New Year is being celebrated in the month of Chiththirai; it has been decided that, from the next year, the first of Thai will be considered the start of the Tamil year. Maybe a good thing to do, because there never did seem to be much excitement around this New Year day.
Even at Kapaleeshwarar Temple, there didn't seem to be that many people; I'm sure that Pongal day will find the temple tank much, much more crowded than this!