Events

I got a mail from Evam for a blog post about their new play, DT&Q and me being an ‘Evam-ist’ jumped into it!

We (Me, Aravind and Shillika) went to meet the folks from Evam today at their corporate office. It ws fun! Had a chat with Sunil and the others. Then we went to watch them rehearse for tomorrow’s play, Doubles, Triples & Quadruples - Nobody stays single at Vidya Sagar, Kotturpuram. Met quite a number of interesting characters from Evam like Baggy, Lakshmi Priya and others.

Shot an interview with Sunil and his team and another at the rehearsal for FindNearYou.com

After the talk with Sunil again at the end of the reherseal, I’m really looking forward to the play.

More information here.

And about Baggy, this video might interest you.

Video Courstesy : Sagaro Collector Cards

I just got back from June Rock Out. It was amazing. It is good to see such a rock loving crowd in Chennai. Things still need to improve as still people are expected to travel to Bangalore to watch international bansd perform. This thing has always surprised me. They got only the crowd - their roads are bad, traffic is sickening, public transport is worse and a lot more minuses. Anyway, coming back to tonight’s show, it was really heart warming to see such a rock loving people in Chennai. Bands played classic and people loved it! Bands played hard-rock and they enjoyed it! Bands played thrash metal and people simply lapped it up! And I was lucky enough to be on stage for the entire show, since Find Near You is the online media partners for Unwind Center, I had the bliss of listening to metal and distortion in the highest decibels of the evening!

One comic aspect of rock shows and rock bands are the girlfriends of the performers. These hawt and not so hawt chicks obviously dont give a damn about Rock. They probably dont even listen to Rock. They just tag along their boyfriends to Rock shows and manage to sneak out for a smoke when their boyfriend’s band goes on stage.

There was this girl having a smoke outside her car (read her boyfriend’s car) and we happened to stop by her to ask for directions. Even as I asked her, I noticed a stack of Pink Floyd cds in the car. Now that she happened to be hawt, I wanted to impress her and casually remarked,

“Pink Floyd? Nice!”

“Huh?”

“I see you have Pink Floyd. Nice!”

“Oh That? No No! I would anyday prefer my Floyd, blue”, she replied as a matter of factly and took another puff.

Arvind walked up to me and said, “Dei.. Aarambame seri illa da. Thirumbi poidellam da.”

Enna Koduma Saar Idhu!

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Later in the night, we interviewed bands like Null Friction (Yes! Null Friction!), Blind Image, Grey Shack which will go as podcasts in Find Near You and Rock & Raga. Visit these sites for the podcasts of the interviews and the show.

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The other highlight of the night was sme brilliant photography by our own Varun Sridhar. Check out this pic and you’ll know what I mean!

The first edition of the 8th Chennai Photowalk happened today at T Nagar.

Lot of hostile stares, friendly poses - as usual!

Met more people like Sharanya, Ole and Sindhu (Pradeep! This is injustice to Sita!) More about Sindhu later.

We started at around 5.30 from Panagal Park by going round a small portion of the park and embarking towards Pondy Bazaar. There were some blog worthy incidents like the two girls who were so amused seeing a bunch of crazy shutterbugs clicking away to glory that they kept coming with us looking at us apprehensively. Then there was this flower shop guy who wanted a snap of himself and his friend. He then actually ran upto me and gave me his card asking me to courier the pic to him!

Got some wonderful pics which can be viewed here.

At the end, Dilip Muralidharan gave a long talk about Aravanis in Chennai, his documentary on them and their cultural background. Interesting! For that matter, the aravanis’ headquarters in Chennai are in need of a decent internet connection. They are trying to digitalize all their documentation before it is too late. They have got some 300 year old documents that are withering away. So, if anyone can help out in form of cash, they can contact me or Dilip.

Then me, Gapp and Jump headed to High Time, the bar at GRT Grand Days to meet Ram, my boss and he offered us free drinks! We cashed in on this opportunity and had a couple of drinks. Jump walked back home while me and Gapp walked till Teynampet and took a 12B till Luz Corner. We had an interesting chat about a Chidambaram School that was in need of some serious renovation, not only in form of buildings but also in form of man-power. He claims that the teachers there are just school pass outs. Shit! Again, people who are willing to spend a weekend in Chidambaram talking to the school kids and teachers in order to motivate them or give some creativity workshop to them are welcome. They can contact Gapp. Update on 16th June: Gapp claims I got everything wrong. Will update soon after I get to know it in detail.

The day started wild, as me and my family were visiting a few of our relatives and got stuck in an elevator in a posh apartment complex in Alwarpet. The watchman came and as a matter of factly, took a lever and propped the grill gate open and asked us to climb out! It was fun, but the thought of kids and the elderly getting stuck is scary!

Off to bed now. Ram probably asked the bartender to serve me non-alcoholic drinks so that I would turn up for work the next day on time! I’m not even feeling the drink!

Oh! And by the way, Pradeep turned up for the walk with a new chick, SIndhu (he probably has ditched Sita) and we had the following conversations over phone four times throughout the walk.

Point to be noted is that he was very determined to come for this walk.

Before the walk:

Pradeep: Hello?

Me: Dude! Where are you?

Pradeep: Just around the corner. Will be there in a few minutes.

He came with the chick.

During the walk. He was nowhere to be seen.

Pradeep: Hello?

Me: Dude! Where are you?

Pradeep: Er… Me in Marrybrown da.

Me: WTF!

A little later:

Pradeep: Hello?

Me: Dude! Where are you?

Pradeep: Well… Er… Um… Besant Nagar beach da.

Me: #$^%&*

After the walk:

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Dude! Whats happening!?

A lazy Sunday started with a message from my cousin, Gopi that he was visiting us. Great! Now there is ritual in our place. When someone announces his/her arrival, we start cleaning our place. Thats when we actually clean our home! And if someone comes unannounced, its at their own risk! So a couple of hours of cleaning and it was already 1 pm. Gopi came and we soon left for Citi Centre. An hour at Landmark and about half an hour at Coffee Day later, I started. I picked up Shillika on the way to the Hotel. Update: The next few lines were removed due to requests by the person concerned.

We arrived at Hotel Dee Cee Manor a few minutes past four. We walked in to find a few Photowalkers, Varun, Arvind aka Pseudonym, Sudhamshu already there. Then Chandru, Vatsan, Sandhya and Dhruva walked in. The first half of the proceedings was boring, esp the introduction part and the ‘one minute of fame’ though the later saw lot of wisecracks from the audience. Then it was dinner time and time to network. Had a chat with Kribs about podcasting. Met interesting people like Joel, Naveen, Rohit and Jackie. At one point of time, I even cursed Gapp as I found myself sitting between X and Y!

It was then the jigs round where the organizers read out random comments from random blogs and the blog owner does a jig. it was actually funny to see bloggers of all shapes and sizes doing jigs! Then there was a skit by The Rebelz which had the audience in splits with their jabs at people ranging from Balaiyah to Vijay Mallya. Then there was the skit by the Indibloggers Team. At the last was the occasion everyone was waiting for - the T Shirts!

Most of the people had left by then and the remaining people had a quick snap with a few of the organizers. Most of the bloggers who attended the meet found the proceedings boring and this is probably because Chennai has seen lots of such events like BarCamp, BlogCamp and of course the Chennai Photowalk where most of the people are bloggers! Still, the IndiBloggers Team deserves a pat on the back for organising such an event.

From left (clockwise) Dont know the first two peeps’ name, Arvind, Myself, Varun, Joel, Naveen (the guy who got owned last week!) Rohit, Murali, Jackie (she is Naveen’s owner!) Sandhya Rajan and the girl whose name also i dont know.

We then pushed Rohit’s car whose front wheel was stuck in the parking lot and it was then the drive to the deserted Marina beach with Pseudonym where we spent around 20 minutes before heading back home.

Lessons I learnt today:

1) Networking in Chennai means meeting the same people again and again as the same folks turn up for all meets.

2) In Chennai, girls blog; babes dont!

3) Never offer to pick up any girl you know up! Especially, if she is doing third year VissCom in MOP Vaishnav College!

Update at 6:10, 9th June: More posts about the event can be read here.

The Seventh Chennai Photowalk happened on May 11th. I know its a bit late for me to write a post about it here. Still.

I had to sacrifice my sleep at a time when it is at its best - 5 in the morning. But, it was worth it!

A quick stroll to the Mylapore Temple Tank and I was on. It took a while for everyone to come and we were all set for the 7th Chennai Photowalk.

We were met with some stares, some hostile and some obliging poses all the way from Mylapore to San Thome.

Met some interesting people like Chandru (the chief of this tribe) Subhash, one of the editors in The Hindu, Mihir, Gautham, Shillika, Shaam, Anand, Dilip and many more. Saw PlaneMad for the first time though we knew each other through our respective blogs. He claimed to be named Arun Ganesh - I prefer to call him PlaneMad. Infact, I had and still have trouble calling him Arun.

All this means more additions to my blogroll as most of these people have interesting blogs.

All the Photowalk pics can be seen here.

In other news, the Pichavaram trip with Gapp, PlaneMad, Vetti and Dilip was not that great as we expected it to be. It was good though and we had fun. Again met new people - Vetti and Dilip. Cant write a detailed post on the Pichavaram trip here as I have promised Ram of findnearyou.com that I would write the travelogue for his website. The pics can be seen here.

Also, Shankar Ganesh’s three SugarSync Annual Subscriptions are up for grabs. All you have to do is to visit the link here and write a catchy comment on why you need a $49.99 worth SugarSync subscription and how you’ll use it.

Hurry!

Update on May 17th - While I thought that I, along with Gapp was pulling PlaneMad’s leg throughout the trip, it finally turned out that it was my leg that was being pulled. All along.
Right now, three people are laughing away like hyenas in Chennai. Bad.

Mera number aayega! Hope so.

Unfortunately, I couldnt carry my trusty Canon along to the A R Rahman’s Changing Notes Concert.

Here’s a video of the other night of ARR himself giving a sexed out performance of Khwaja Mere Khwaja, in authentic Qawwali style.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWTGvchfDIQ]

…as I have seen God!

Yes. I saw God at St. George School grounds, Chennai on the 20th of April, 2008 at 6.30 PM.

And God didn’t disappoint me. Nor did he disappoint the 50000 others who had gathered to watch him perform.

I was at the A R Rahman Changing Notes Concert, organised by the Times of India.

He started with a soulful rendering of Jaage Hain from Guru and in the song’s climax where he sung the high pitch notes, the crowd ruptured into a honest applause. The audience loved him right from the beginning. Most of them like me had waited for years to watch Madras’s own son perform live.

Read the rest of this entry »

Swivel 08 stood to its name.

A well received symposium - as usual.

Check out snaps and videos of this event here.

Some creep dropped in the name of A R Rahman and I was drooling even at the thought of Sangarsh 2008 - and it turned out to be a concert by Ranjith, Naresh Iyer and Devan.

I had to pacify myself as all these were after all ARR’s finds.

The trio were rehearsing Valayapathi Tamizhe from ATM and Dole Dole from Pokkiri as I entered Kamarajar Arangam.

The show started almost an hour late, but Devan made the audience forget it with a bang by rendering Karka Karka from Vettayadu Vilayadu. It was then Ranjith’s turn to mesmerize the audience with Yella Yella from Arindhum Ariyamalum.

And then the audience’s sweetheart came on-stage!

The audience simply loved Naresh Iyer right from the time he came on-stage and jumped up and down like a kid! And when he started Kadhal Konjam from Pachai Kili Muthu Charam, the audience went mad! And when he came down to the audience, went to each row and obliged fans for hand shakes as he sang, the audience went berserk!

The bassie on the left rocked!

The trio then came to the stage and started Endendrum Punnagai and ended with Oh Humdum Suniyo Re.

Ranjith and Rita then had the audience clapping to June July from Kalloori and there was a scream in the audience asking Rita to marry him! This was followed by Suppose from Sukran and some other song I heard for the first time, but the audiecne lapped it up with fervour.

And then Naresh Iyer sang Mayilirage from Ah Aah along with Asha(Whats her second name?)

It was then a medley with Devan on the acoustic guitar, Anand on the bass and the plump guy(I am bad on names) on the keys with Ranjith & Naresh Iyer crooning Vellai Pookal, Munbe Vaa, Ore Nyabagam and ending the medley with Roobaroo (The audience had an orgasm here!)

Ranjith next came on stage with Rita and sang Dole Dole from Pokkiri.

Most of the audience was leaving at this point and I would have stayed, but my girlfriend kept calling me - It was a date by nine and it was already ten.

I left the hall with ecstasy - of having listened to the finest singers in the industry and having had my girlfriend wait - for a change!
And thanks to my junior, Bala for having supplied us with snacks during the show!

It was total fun right from the beginning.

Rotaract Club of MNM Jain Engineering College had organized the Inter Government School Culturals, Sangamam ‘08 in the campus and this fest was attended by around 200 kids from 6 Government Schools(8 were invited) from ECR, Karapakkam, Neelangarai, Perungudi and Sholinganallur.

With events such as Group Dance, Solo Dance, Oration, Drawing, Solo Singing, Rangoli and other informals, the kids lapped up the fest with enthusiasm. So much enthusiasm that the kids jumped up to the stage in between events and started dancing! And the organizers(including me) joined the jig!

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Adyar and Gaurav Singhal Group this fest was graced by Mr. Vittal Rajan and Mr. Gaurav Singhal, who attended the inauguration and Mr. Srinivasan & Ms. Saraswati who distributed the prizes.

And again, the kids were joined by the organizers in a jig on-stage.

With too much excitement and too little time, the organizers promise to make the next year’s edition grander.

Click here for behind the scenes pictures!

Swivel is back - in its latest edition as Swivel 08.

The last edition was held in 2006 and was enthusiastically lapped up by students all over Tamil Nadu especially the Radio Control techies.

RC Cars, the most successful event of last edition is being reincarnated into a tougher event involving both on and off-road track, thus testing the skills of the makers in not only the electronics and steering, but also the mechanical design.

The other new events are Airborne - Gliders which will test the aerodynamic skills of the students in the form of constructing gliders and an Autocad Design contest.

The other events include Paper Presentation, Technical Quiz, Adzap, Technical Extempore, Crosswords and Brain Teasers.

All budding mechanical engineers and others with an eye for everything mechanical are invited.

Come and discover the spirit of everything Mechanical!

More details at http://swivel08.in