Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Dummies guide to drive in "Rainy" Chennai!


It is again that time of the year, when Chennai has its uncharacteristic Wet patch! The last few days have been more acute with non-stop rains and as I post there isn't any respite in the last 24hrs - Non-Stop downpour!

It's an irony that the popular sentiments are mixed as people equally love and hate rains. Love for the mercury dropping down by a few inches and hate for everything else... starting from the messy roads, water-logged colonies and the traffic stretching its tail on the roads for endless miles. Well given the bundle of imperfection any Indian city is... here is a take on how to survive while driving in "Chennai" roads on a rainy day!



Disclaimer:All the below content is written with only bikers in mind

Simulation: It has just started raining..
Action advised: Not too bad... worse is yet to come and so rush to your destination ASAP! The rain is just setting in and with Chennai, the clouds keep moving rapidly in, also you may never know.. while the rain vents out its fury in Nungambakkam, it might just be a dull partly cloudy day with intermittent sunshine(!!!) in Tambaram. So never expect it to end before it has actually started.

And here is a hypothesis framed after close observations:
There is an indirect proportionality between the radius of the wheel of a vehicle and the Obtuseness of the arc of splash

For eg., A minimum of 4-5metres of distance is advisable if you have the FZ dude zooming past you, be calm and stay back! Certainly not a day to show him your histrionics on two wheels.

*More than the Pulsars, Hunks and Apaches, you have to take care of the smaller ones.. yeah.. I mean the Scooties...and the other mopeds. Trust me...certainly not a day worth chasing those beauties :-P

* Exercise more caution when you spot the small yellow ones - the omnipresent Auto, can make dotted imprints of slush on your "End of season Sale - heavily discounted" branded clothing! So respect the small lady.

*Also, following a MTC Bus is never safer than on a rainy day. Try if you can, It actually clears off the way!

Driving in Chennai, is an absolute "Playstationesque" experience. You can choose to play different levels based on your proficiency!!!

level 1 - Anna Salai/PH road or any other arterial road where it is kept very simple with a steady flow of heavy traffic - mobility on such roads are defined in a new metric/parameter that is (Pending ratification from The International Bureau of Weights and Measures, France) which is meters per song or m/sg to be short! It is self explanatory - by the time you listen to a 5min song on your ear pieces, a 50m advancement is guaranteed. M/Sg is always denoted with time. So you have different number for different time buckets - like Anna Salai is measured at 50m/Sg at 8PM.... it can peak the scale at 10am when traffic moves at 20m/Sg in and around "Gemini" breaking what is termed "the Snail barrier"!



Or level 2 - ply through the arterial roads take and you will be forced to take an occasional left/right to dodge all major junctions/signal points and ..... surprise..... you might have to wade your bike through the 3ft. stagnant waters. Agile people can still ride the bike by hanging their legs n boots on the handle bar. The stains of the Water levels of previous seasons on the compound walls of the lined up housing area let you know that the situation isn't any worse yet. Ferry services (most service providers head-quatered at Velachery!!!) are operated on a request basis in select localities.



Or level 3 - Requires an Upload of a snapshot of chennai roads at the greatest detail possible from google maps into your cerebrum and face the challenge - make sure you never touch any arterial road... but you still need to be at your place well in time:) However, it has been already observed that even level3 is experiencing jams.

In any of these levels, you might be appropriately challenged by a plethora of U turns/ No-entry boards/barricades that spring up even before the mushrooms pop out.

And yes.. there is this one unwritten rule "As you go up the levels, you may be required to break all rules!!!”

Wishing you that safe / enjoyable ride whatever be the level that you are pl(a)ying in.

Cheers!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Cook your way out!!



Starting to earn one's own money gives everyone the deepest sence of independence! Truly a remarkable time in a life of a human being. Time from which he/she is able to support his/her 3 basic needs of life! Food-Shelter-clothing! Add to that the phone and internet bills which turn out to be an essential need if you are one of those social (networking) animals!

Satisfying and supporting oneself on the 3 essentials with one's own money truely gives a sense of self-satisfaction which is often not given a thought about in this busy on-schedule life! Breaking it down how many of us have take time to think on these lines??

I earn and now I pay for my stay/shelter!
I make my own money and I pay for what I wear!
I get paid and am able to pay for what I eat!

The satisfaction of being on your own is one of the lowest common denominator everyone wants to be sure about, however social man might be!

However, a subtle difference that is still possible with regards to earning and eating! How about earning and being able to cook what one eats! Thats a step further down the track... isn't it?

Yes! The pleasure and the sense of cooking one's own food in its own way installs a sense of independence. Or, rather than independence should I rephrase it as a "marginal decrease" in dependence as Man for centuries has been social enough not to rule out dependency totally! And I said "Marginal decrease" - as I still don't match a farmer - some one blessed - one who can sow & raise his own grain and crop and prepare his own meal for the day!

Cooking for self has its own pleasures! You are able to know for a fact what goes into making a meal and appreciate little things that you wouldn't care about otherwise! Moreover, you are able to add that little extra care to make it a wholesome and healthy diet! All for a better "You" totally done by you!

On the funny side, You are the best critic for the food that you make - A critic who takes that extra bit of miscalculated pinch of salt or a double dosage of chilly with pleasure that end up bringing an obvious tear in the eye! But no matter what, the critic will still have good things to say about a dish that at the least can be classified edible!

Cooking for self, can bring in
*a sense of responsible eating as in avoiding transfat/ or too much of fried stuff as all such things can be avoided @ source!
*a sense of duty/cleanliness with that add on work of doing the dishes!

And at last - Isn't that another cool way to lose some calories in the very act of getting ready to consume more of them! Irony that works better!

For now, my cullinary skills are limited but it is a beginning for sure. The day starts either with a oat meal breakfast(the flavour of which is totally random!) or noodles, a cup of rice along with boiled vegetables for lunch while the third meal of the day (thankfully!!) happens at a cafeteria in my work place.
Hope it gets better with every passing day!

And for those who haven't yet tried it - Start Cooking your way out! Its real fun!

Cheerz