ExpertDabbler

Last friday, i went along with my friend to get a house for him on rent. The targeted areas were Nanganallur, Adambakkam etc. The fellow is getting married next month, works for Wipro and his fiance is working in a firm in Egmore. So he is looking for a strategically located house - not far away for him, and easy for his future wife to commute via EMU.

We met three folks and all just stopped short of giving ‘Ketta varthai archanai’. The only wrong we did was that we belong to this breed called IT professionals.

“Ingey ellam seendha aal kedayadhu thambi, ellam indha software pasanga vandhu, kaetta vadagai kudhuthu vadagai yeethi vechirukaanga” started the lady who showed showed us a house in Adambakkam, the landlord stays upstairs. The house should be about 700 sqft, and should be about 10 years old and it showed. She continued about her land owner. “Ivlo naal 4000Rs ku dhaan thambi pochu, ippo rendu maasam munnadi thideernu 500Rs yethitaar, engalukulla adhunaale chinna manasthaabam. naan gaaali pannikaren nu solliten, aana paarunga thambi, TO LET board vechaar, demand parthadhum, vadagayai Rs.6000 panitaar”

A grocery shop guy turned part time broker in Nanganallur was cursing us for the same reason despite the fact that a significant clientele of his are IT folks.

Whilst I agree that there is a perceptible gap in the salary levels and spending patterns of a software professional and other professions, the gap is slowly but surely closing off late. Civil and Mechanical Engineers are in great demand.

Also, while there is some truth that software guys spend more, a lot of our spending is driven by compulsions which are unlikely to be understood by others. For e.g Me coming home late or attending calls till late night from home is something not easily understood by the previous generation folks. Naturally, I will start late the next morning. But there are situations where I have to be in office early as well. So i trade money for time and prefer the auto over the bus that day. But the auto driver is free to make his own judgements. He can very well think, ‘Tha dhinam office poradhuku auto la Rs.150 kuduthu poraan na ivan laam evlo sambaadhipaan?? Adutha dhadavai innoru 20Rs. jasthiya kekkanum’ of which I have no control.

In my opinion, software guys spend insanely huge amount on food and drinks per month. And spend atrociously low on books and staying updated. We spend less time with our families and more time at work (productive or not is a different issue which again is beyond the controls of a rookie techie person). Beyond this, I am not willing to entertain the notion that software junta want to throw money just because they could. I would be seeing fewer forged rental receipts and fake medical bills had that been the case

I think the chennai society needs some cultural and economic villain. Erstwhile it was the cinema folks of Kodamakkam, nowadays its the IT professionals. I hope I stay in synch with the times, retain my balance and not indulge in such ’stomach fire’ rhetorics even when some other industry gets into the spotlight in my older days.

As much as i crib about the government functioning, i thnk it’s only fair that i appreciate when something happens the way it should. The DMK-alliance govt had assumed power in May 2006. The flyover on the North Usman Road - Kodambakkam high road junction was commissioned a few months later I suppose, was thrown open to traffic last month.

I am not sure about the time overrun or cost overrun on this project, but from a ‘podhu janam’ perspective, this should go down as one of the better projects in terms of execution. I tried the Kodambakkam High Road from Vadapalani last week during peak hour and all but managed to get to Nungambakkam in about 15 minutes. I am yet to gather opinions from those who commute regularly from that area on the ease of congestion, but I guess at least the execution of this flyover project deserves special appreciation.

On similar lines, one leg of the Guindy grade separator was completed and thrown open to traffic. There is a marked drop in the traffic build up already.

Have we not heard some guru say, ‘Making life interesting is all in our control’?

This Tuesday morning, I got down at Tambaram from yet another trip down south and moved towards the East Tambaram terminus. The first thing I noticed was a bus to Velachery and the next thing to strike me was ‘paradox of choice’. At any given point in time, there are about 15 buses towards Velachery lined up in 1 km distance. I was not sure which one to get into. Common sense predicts that people catch the bus that leaves first. And one would’ve thought the bus which is more populated will leave first as well. Come try that You might’ve secured a seat in bus 1, only to find the bus stationed 4 buses behind you starting first Apparently this has worked so well and got so many positive feedback from commuters (doing things different, making life interesting and unpredictable blah blah) that our transport corporations has adopted this strategy all over Tamil Nadu and extended this to pricing the ticket fares as well.

The previous day, I travelled in mofussil bus from Virudhunagar to Thirumangalam, a distance of 25 kms. The fare was Rs.8 per ticket. The distance from ThirupurankundramThirumangalam to Madurai Periyar bus stand should be around 20 kms and you MUST take a town bus. Factors like town bus and lesser distance tempted me to think the fare would be lower. Ah, things were not so simple.

First I had some fun with the ‘Which bus starts first’ game as described above. After three attempts, I decided ‘let me get down and stand near the exit, that way I can catch the first bus which leaves the terminus first’. Hurrah, my strategy worked perfect!!
And it would be even more interesting to adopt this strategy with a 50+ year old lady and 4 bags

Coming to the fare, It was blind date again. I paid Rs. 11 on an orange color bus. My uncle tells me the yellow color (CITY EXPRESS?) bus costs less but not sure by how much. The LSS service comes even cheaper. And the ordinary service is the cheapest. Only catch - the ordinary bus is rarer to find than a white elephant.

In Chennai. the variants as far as I know here goes like - blue, yellow, orange, express service, A/C service, and last and definitely the least - ordinary buses. Needless to say, the fare varies as much as the colors as well.

I can understand that our transport corporations are attempting what HUL’s strategy to sell soaps from prices of Rs.5 to Rs.50. The only difference is, the price of the soap marketed by HUL is available upfront while the price and timing of the bus, we will come to know when it happens.

What’s next?

Plan A- I guess someone who is a regular in our city buses should start a web 2.0 site and let the readers post the fares for all the permutations and combinations. We can conveniently take a print out and have it handy before boarding the next city bus in Tamil Nadu. Kudos to the transport corporation for making our miserable lives as interesting as a video game, without the video

Plan B:
Catch a share auto

Yesterday, I was traveling in a mofussil bus from Thirumangalam to Virudhunagar. There was this talkative siddha medicine sales rep guy sitting next to me. I am not the ice-breaker sort but when somebody opens up i believe i give them good company. So with this guy, the topic veered from his business, software and finally to the agri loan waiver by P Chidambaram.

Immediately, this guy was like,”Aniyaanga, ellam waste!”. I was more curious to know the reason for his conclusion. But neverthless I offered my 2 cents about private money lenders blah blah. He saw me as one extra terrestrial and gave this gyaan

“Adellam illainga. vishayam enna na, idhai vanginavanga neraya peru vivasayiye kedayadhunga. enakku therinju oru amma, konjam nelam vechirukkudhu, vesaayam ellam pannalai. aana adhu bank la indha vevasaaya loan vangirukudhu. adhaan namba oorla kaasu kudutha enna certificate vena kudupaangale.. adhai kamichu kadan vangi velila vatti ku vittutu irukunga!, news kelvi pattu, ‘ayyo innum konjam vaangaama poitene’ nu polambittu irukudhu”
This was bizaare twist to me to say the least.

You need either of the following to survive in this great country.

Learn to screw the system, or
Have the patience to endure when the system screws you.

Pipe, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

Not the most aesthetically pleasing of all everyday objects, the tap in Kalyana Mandapam. Nevertheless with the right light and a longish tele lens which blurs out almost everything, it suddenly becomes something worth clicking.

mani’s engagement, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

The emotion and the occasion makes it one of my recent favorites
Maniya, with your permission

I know a lot of folks in TN who have grown up reading Vikatan, Kumudam. I remember walking to the nearby pottikadai as a kid and buying Anandha Vikatan for Rs. 2.50. Those were the days when Vikatan had jokes right in the cover page. Recently I stopped buying Vikatan and Kumudham and am glad for it.

This is not to suggest that they are useless for everybody else. You should read if you are keen to:

- know whether Dayanidhi and MK family will patch up.
- date Trisha, Nayanthara and the latest and greatest damsel in the tinsel town (I am assuming you can if you want to!)
- planning to make a big budget tamil movie
- predict what property of Vijaykanth will be targeted next.
- know about Bharathiraja’s son’s/daughter’s married life

Alternatively, if you are planning to make a saga out of ‘Manal Medu’ Shankar* or ‘Vella’ Ravi*, you MUST go for Junior vikatan, Kumudam Reporter, Nakheeran.

The rest of the folks, I think, are better off subscribing to specialty magazines in their area of interests - be it photography, computers, health, interior design or business.

I went ahead and subscribed for “”Better Photography” which costs Rs.60 a month for a year (Vikatan and Kumudam costs Rs.40 a month each minimum). I got two bonus issues and a AAA/AA battery charger worth a few hundred bucks for free.

Bottomline, information on how to take better photographs and the latest DSLR comes cheaper than news on who is willing to shed more clothes for a price in Kollywood. I’ve also subscribed for ‘Dare’(dare.co.in) - a magazine for wannabe entreprenuers, for Rs. 30 a month.

I feel specialty is the way to go as far as magazines go, be it Tamil or English. This is not to suggest I have something against those two reputed magazine groups. I am planning to buy ‘Naanayam Vikatan’, i liked it when i tried once. ‘Motor Vikatan’ should be of similar quality as well. My mom likes to read ‘Kumudam Health’.

I will subscribe to Vikatan and Kumudam again when I am keen on the lifestyles of the rich and the famous and the glamorous and the notorious. But for now, I am better off saving my money and reading magazines which cater to my interests and well being.

Once in a while Vikatan will let someone write two good pages in their mag for 26 weeks. Be rest assured that will come out as a book soon. It makes sense to buy a good book for 100 Rs. than to buy a mokkai magazine for 6 months. What say?

If there’s someone in your family who is hell bent on reading it, get them enrolled in circulation library. You can still save on costs. What’s more there is less trash at home.