the t.nagar fire and the thoughts it kindled...

I guess every chennaiite would have been to ranganathan street or usman road sometime or the other...

Though usman road and ranganathan street are the most frequented shopping areas in the city, there is no doubt that the area is in no way equipped to handle the huge crowds that throng the place...

I was just reading some newspaper reports of the recent fire incident that happened in a multi-storeyed shop in Ranganathan street in T.Nagar, and there are many things about it that I find appalling…

-though the fire broke out at around 3.30 AM, the fire service was notified only around 6.00 AM

- the shop authorities, on being questioned by the fire personnel on arrival, insisted that there was no possibility of any employees remaining inside the building.

- the shop did not have any fire extinguishing equipment ready on hand.

- the narrow roads were a major hindrance for the fire department vechicles and water tankers to access the place quickly. Every time the fire dept hoses ran dry and they had to wait for the water tankers to negotiate the narrow street.

in addition, the hoardings and name boards jutting out into the street slowed down the tanker's movement as they had the risk of hitting the windshields and breaking them.

- the last i heard, the owners of the shops, instead of being there, owning up to their faults and making arrangements for remedial measures, have conveniently absconded the place....

- the very next day after the blaze, owners of the surrounding shops apparently argued with the police and insisted that they be allowed to resume business, unmindful of the danger from the damaged building….


its quite obvious that most of these commercial buildings have violated building codes and thrown safety precautions to the winds....
the narrow passages, the absence of emergency exits and adequate fire extinguishers, all these could have caused a huge disaster had the incident happened later during the day.

The public, with the usual, typical, combination of gallantry and nonchalance with which it bounces back from every calamity and catastrophe that happens in the country, has taken to thronging the very same street the very next day…and with its usual short-lived memory, shall soon forget the entire episode and go about as usual, oblivious of the potential dangers….

Will shop owners learn anything from this and put safety measures in place, will authorities wake up and strictly enforce the necessary rules and come down heavily on violators, or is this going to be just another incident…

A wedding hall in Srirangam and a private school in Kumbakonam don’t seem to have taught us anything…its a miracle if a shopping complex in T.Nagar will…

pics of niagara visit

i thought i'd post some of the pics we took on our visit to the niagara falls.... it was absolutely breathtaking, and i have no words to describe it enough... i even felt somewhat emotional, watching such a creation of nature, flowing with such beauty, and falling with such fury....
its a great experience, hearing the thundering roar of water, and watching the misty spray of water rising above after crashing onto the rocks below....

Veggie shopping in the US for dummies !

The first few weeks after i landed in the USA, i had to give myself a refresher course in veggie shopping.... forget the fact that everything here, including fruits and veggies, has enough number of variants to confuse you and make you want to tug your hair... the names themselves can make you frustrated, the first few days.

To begin with, having entered your local grocery store, if you are searching for a section marked 'fruits' or 'vegetables', chances are that you would'nt find it, though the store might be carrying quite a huge selection of the same....simply because, fruits and vegetables are fashionably called 'produce' !
having located the 'produce' aisle, what are you looking for next ? some veggies for your everyday cooking ? before venturing any further, take a good look here, if you were brought up in India, like i was....

Well, lets start with the veggie that in India goes by the rather dainty name of "ladies finger" (you would expect something with such a name to be handled with care, but nay, it gets broken all the time, by many a lady's finger !! ) - here, in the US, its called "Okra" - sounds rather like the name of some greek godess, doesn't it ...

and of course, brinjals are eggplants... though i personally prefer the european "aubergine" - has that french twist, which makes it sound exotic !
maybe the americans find capsicum quite a mouthful - they are called bell peppers(classified into green, red or yellow -according to colour) !
And if you are looking for some coriander leaves to season those dishes you cooked up, please look for "Cilantro" - oh yeah, i got it right, that's the word !

If you are looking for tomatoes, it should be easier, they are called just tomatoes - you just have to make a choice - between cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, campari tomatoes, roma tomatoes, sweet tomatoes...to mention just a few...not to mention a "tomatoes on the vine" option...
And if you thought that nothing could go wrong with something as simple as potatoes, think again. you only have to choose between white potatoes, red potatoes,(i even saw purple or blue !), idaho potatoes, russets,
eastern potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, baby potatoes, and baking potatoes....phew !

well, as of now, i am tired of quoting from memory all the variants i can remember...will update the list whenever i am reminded of more....

As unpredictable as the weather !

I should say i understood the meaning of this expression really only in the past few months.... for one who has grown up in a city like chennai, the weather is actually very predictable, the only variants being warm, hot or toasty - with a brief monsoon thrown in once a year...
hmmm....but here, we are nearing the end of june, but the weather has been alternating between rainy and warm... a few days of bright sunshine, and just when we thought we were officially into summer, we've been having a rainy spell again...
but that's not all....a few days ago, on a quite bright day, we had decided to go out to catch up with some shopping, when the skies turned dark and it started raining....
K called up to say to say that he was heading home from office, and as there were thunderbolts and lightning, we cancelled the shopping plans and decided to settle down with some chilli bajjies and tea !
by the time i finished frying the bhajjis and sat down to dig into them, i got so irritated as weather turned bright and sunny again....at seven thirty in the evening...
so much for my plans of enjoying a hot cup of tea watching the rain !
talk about unpredictable !!

For want of a shoe !

My feet have been giving me trouble ….thankfully not the kind of trouble that requires the services of expensive podiatrists or prescription medication, but trouble of a different kind…
I’ve trouble getting them covered!! Now, my feet are very small for an adult, so I always have a good deal of trouble hunting for shoes (or sandals, slippers, or whatever the occasion demands…).
My doting friends have christened me from time to time with many a moniker, ranging from Vaman, to Stuart Little… one friend even used to insist that i take a picture of my feet….
Even back home, in India, I had difficulty finding shoes, but at least managed to find something that fit my feet…even if it was mostly non-branded stuff…
No major brands would have shoes my size…even good old Bata, had most of its good designs starting from size 4 onwards (mine is smaller than that!), so I rarely had the privilege of buy their footwear, which is more famous for the weird improper fractions they have as prices, than for their style…
Well, as a kid, I didn’t have much of a problem finding school or casual shoes… (at least, I don’t remember… may be I should ask my mom if she had trouble finding shoes that fit me)…but I guess the real problem was that as I grew up in age, my feet for some reason failed to catch up with the years, and remained kid- sized !
Even when I got sandals from non branded stores, I used to ask the store people to punch extra holes in the strap, as the straps would be loose even after buckling them in the last hole….

After marriage, there was another twist to the tale, as the other half turned out to be a firm believer in branded stuff… (I had to convince him that there was no such thing as a branded salwar, and that they varied with every store)
according to him, if I couldn’t have branded shoes, I should atleast have them bought from a major retailer…I on the other hand, could never bring myself to spend some extra hundreds just because it came from a fancy store in an upscale mall…finally, I gave in, and spent hours walking up and down malls looking for shoes….
I bet it would have been easier for Cinderella’s prince to find feet to fit the solitary glass shoe…..

The real problem started a few months back…. I travelled for the first time to the US of A, and since I was landing there in the middle of winter, armed myself with a pair of sneakers in addition to my strappy sandals. Of course, the sneaker has its own story…as usual, we hunted down the aisles of branded stores, and when we managed to find a model which both the OH and I liked, the only pair that the store had in my size was old and a little damaged, so they had to order another and it had to be picked up after a few days…finally, I was the proud owner of a nike sneaker, after setting the indulgent hubs back by almost a couple of thousand INR !
Well, after a few months here, my sandals gave away…and the hunt began…we started store hopping, and mall hopping... To start with, American shoe sizes are different from Indian sizes....and in between every size, they have a half-size too, so you have 6 ½, 7 ½, etc… and they are also much more expensive, compared to India…seeing the shoes, I guessed the feet of the average American woman should be larger than her Indian counter part, and they should be having a great sense of balance, to walk without falling with the pointy heels that most shoes have….so now, in addition to finding a size that fit, I also had to look out for shoes which were not stilettos, pencil heels or any other contraption that would require me to have the skill, balance and dexterity of a tight rope walker !
Phew, this time I even tried kid’s shoes….really…the sizes were more closer to mine…but I didn’t want to be seen around town in shoes that had pink butterflies, pretty bows or polka dots on them !
The OH mumbled something about trying to find a -2 size… out of sheer exhaustion and exasperation, he came up with a solution, though temporary….he bought a couple of tubes of super strength adhesive and stuck my sandal where it had come off….
Now, is my want of a shoe a lost battle ?
I’ll let you know if I find a shoe before the glue wears off…..watch this space….

thoughts fuelled by a dumpster....

In the few months i've been in the US, i have been surprised about the amount of trash that is generated. Most of the things used in everyday life are disposable, and add to the quickly increasing pile of trash. (cups,plates,napkins are common, but do things like baking trays and contact lenses need a disposable version...) I think Indians by nature reuse things more....almost everything is given a second lease of life...from clothes,books and toys passed on from older to the younger children, to plastic bags and bottles used over and over again....
well, something is thrown out only if all possible means of repair or reuse have been exhausted...
a few days ago,i looked out of my window one morning and was apalled to see a big white mattress, with no visible damage to it, dumped into the trash bin(and was removed soon after).
i should say i was quite shocked by the sight...why would anyone dump a seemingly good mattress in the trash....surely, one could find someone in need of it, some charity organization willing to take it, or atleast put it up at a garage sale or something....
it think it would be nice if everyone would do their little bit to reduce the amount of trash we dump on the face of the earth... this planet has so much to offer us - even if we can never give back as much as we take out of nature,let us do what little we can in minimising the damage we cause...
surely,the world would be a much better place with fewer landfills......
just pause for a minute before the next time you toss something out....

Cherry Blossom Festival,Washington.D.C

As spring makes an entry around the world, the city of Washington D.C has its own unique way of ushering in the spring… Every year, the thousands of cherry trees along the Tidal Basin (in the banks of the Potomac river in Washington D.C)break into bloom in end march- mid april. The flowers last for just a couple of weeks at the most, and the peak period is just a few days. The flowers are white and light pink, and the entire river bank is a beautiful sight in white. The trees were originally planted in 1912 as a gift of the then mayor of Tokyo, Japan. The trees are closely watched and the blooming period is forecast. A Cherry Blossom Festival is held with lots of events. Thousands of visitors from all over pour into Washington to see the beautiful trees. We went to see the cherry blossoms this sunday and it was a wonderful sight. Though there are thousands of visitors, elaborate parking arrangements have been made around the area and shuttles transport visitors from the many parking lots to the Tidal Basin. Trees full of white blossoms line the entire banks of the Potomac river, and it is a lovely sight as you take a walk down the river. You can also take a boat ride on the Potomac river and take in the lovely sights of the flowers on the edge of the waterfront, as well as the Washington monument on one side and the Jefferson memorial on the other. Outside the Jefferson memorial, a stage is set up and events are continuously taking place. There are lots of stalls selling souvenirs and snacks for those who want to grab a quick bite,and yet the periphery of the trees and the waterfront is kept really clean, as there are lot of trash cans everywhere(even seperate ones for trash and recyclable bottles and metal cans....) and people are responsible enough to through the trash only inside them(not leave them strewn around, as I have painfully seen, in most tourist destinations in India...)
Here are some of the snaps i took .... Chk out this link for more details about the cherry blossom festival