Roobaiku rendu..illa rendu oru rooba

The title is a famous comedy line from the tamil movie "karagatakaaran". It depicts the passion in our people to get involved in bargaining before purchasing any stuff which you want , or may be you want or don't want at all (IMHO, most of the times, the purchase you make after a satisfying bargain is something you never want in the first place ;-) ). I've had immense fun watching some good people I know do skillful bargaining and sometimes enjoy doing it myself. The common targets for such bargaining would be the vegetable and fruit vendors. It is kinda amusing to watch one's slang change from decent talk to an argumentative "Madras tamil" as one gets involved into the act of bargaining. For eg., "Inna nee ivlo vela solre?" as compared to "en ivalavu velai adhigama solre?" and did I forget mentioning about T Nagar or Pondy Bazaar or Usman Road or Ranganathan Street? I've witnessed some classic acts of bargaining in these places along with my aunts and it doesn't matter if it is GRT Gold jewellery or Kumaran Silks or Kalanjiyam cut piece, the fight is on. She goes on with punch statements like "naan ethana kadai paarthureken?" or "regular customers-kitta ipdi velai solreengaley?" or she will suddenly hijack the business from the shop keeper by stunning him with a "idhavida cheap-a naan unaku vaangi tharen". Wow!!hats off to her confidence :). So, if the lady doesn't strike a deal in that shop, then it is a bad shop with no quality. Quality is judged by how good her bargaining skills worked out in that place :). And yes not to forget the non-stop-nonsense "auto men" in Chennai ( all the good auto men, quite a few of them though, please forgive me!)..If the Indian airlines were to fly their Boeing between Triplicane and Chennai Central, I'd rather take it than argue on a hot sunny day with an auto wallah for getting a reasonable deal. I used to buy lots of Saridon whenever I commute to work by an auto and also got enrolled with a good cardiologist for a regular checkup thanks to the driving skills of our auto man. Coming back to our topic on bargaining, enjoy these clippings...

A passing thought

If you ponder over something for quite sometime ( more than 10 minutes..) and still don't make sense out of it, then it is not worth thinking over any further in the present. Enjoy the moment as it breezes past

Two lines

Live your life forward;
Understand it backwards...

SanAntonio Riverwalk

It was a wonderful day and we decided to go to SanAntonio to spend a relaxing weekend day. I was truly mesmerized when we approached the River-walk street in San Antonio,TX. It was a great sight to see the meticulously laid river paths and the creative, activity filled mall and restaurants on either side of the walk.
We throughly enjoyed a 4 hour walk with lot of happy people around...For once, it gave me a feeling of home where I can relate to people and understand them..I mean the common language around the place was "happiness" and "excitement". I love San Antanio river walk.

To bug or not to bug

This idea has been "bugging" my mind and was thinking hard as to if I should write about it or not..here it goes..the "bugging" issue...
Living in an apartment can be quite interesting most of the times. Lot of things are taken care of. If the tap leaks or if the light switch is loose or if the window needs mending, just place a call and someone is there at the door helping you. Also, the security is taken care of, you get a very good pool to laze and access to well equipped fitness center. But what is it with these bugs? Where do they come from? How do they go around all the places in the apartment which we visit maybe only twice a week (like the laundry room)? Having bugs in the apartment home can be quite frustrating, seriously..Now I know why they are called "bugs". I hate these bugs..