My Musings

How I became "RICH" You too can become RICH ICICI bank had, till recently, a system called "Quantum Optima Deposits". The system worked like this: Your savings account was 'divided' into two - operative and non-operative. The operative a/c would normally hold upto 15,000/- and if it exceeds this by way of your subsequent deposits, the excess amount (over and above, say, 12000.00 would be diverted to a new QOD a/c. If you withdraw from your operative a/c, the amount will be supplemented (reverse sweep) from the most-recent QOD a/c. Over the years, I had accumulated about 14 QOD accounts, for amounts as low as 252.00 and 259.00. I tried my best to get these QODs closed and have just one FD for the whole amount. The interest for these QODs were 5.5% whereas, ICICI was giving about 7% for its FDs. I was losing 1.5% interest for no fault of mine. Repeated requests thru Net banking failed to elicit any response. Last week I took the trouble of visiting my branch (...

* THE RATNA CAFE Are you a fan of Idli - Sambhar? Or Sambhar-Vadai? If your answer is YES, the place you should visit is Ratna Cafe in Thiruvallikkeni ( Triplicane), Chennai. You are not a fan? Then it is a MUST-VISIT for you. This eatery is more than 50 years' old. Chennai people will swear by this eatery for that delicious Idlis. I was told that here in this eatery, they do not supply Sambhar in cups as practised in other hotels. Then how do they do it? "You have to go there personally to see for yourself", they said. "Okay," I said. Me and my wife proceeded to Thiruvallikkeni, Pycrofts Road. Deviating from Idlis and Ratna Cafe, let me tell you that Pycrofts Road (Bharatiyar Salai) that runs East - West is a treat for book lovers. Its platform/pavement is chockfull of books, old and new, on all subjects under the sun. Verily it is a paradise for book worms. There are many regular book shops on this road, and some publishers also. You can see hundreds of ...

Koils in Madras. This (16th July 2006) evening 5 PM, we (myself and Vijaya) embarked on a minor tour of "Koils-in-Mylapore." We went to (1) Shri Veera Anjaneyar Koil, (2) Shri Adi Kesava Perumal Koil, (3) Shri Vedhantha Desikar Koil (both near the Chitrakulam, Mylapore. The (2) and (3) are very ancient koils. On our walk back home, we went to Shri Karpaka Vinayakar Koil, near our house. We walked non-stop for over 2 hours but the experience was most satisfying. An evening well spent, in stead of couch-potatoing in front of the dumb TV. The place, streets and lanes, the houses around these Koils must be over 200 years' ancient and is a sight to behold. Remember my earlier mail two years ago on an ancient house in Mylapore, transporting us back in the Time machine? Today, we re-visited that place, but not that house. I like to visit such places of heritage, which mirror our culture. Day before yesterday (14th) we went to Shri Ramakrishna Mutt, and Shri Saibaba Koil ...

PANCHANG GYAN - Calculation of LAGNAM We know that Sun travels through the 12 zodiac signs (rasis) in one year; that is one rasi per Tamil month. On Tamil New year day (Chiththirai first day), Sun enters the first rasi - Mesham. On Vaikasi 1st, he enters the second rasi - Rishabam. And so on. Since each rasi subtends an arc of 30 degrees, he travels app. 1 deg per day. Every day, the Sun travels through all the 12 rasis. Now these are called as LAGNAS of the day. At the exact time of sunrise, it starts in the rasi (lagnam) corresponding to the month (Chithrai = Mesham etc). and after travelling thru that lagnam, it enters the next lagnam, travels thru this lagnam, then enters 3rd lagnam -- etc etc, till the next sunrise. Thus, we see that the time taken to travel thru one lagnam will be 24 hours / 12 lagnams = 2 hours (approx ) in one lagnam. Converting this in Tamil units, it would mean 5 naazhigais per lagnam (one hour = 2 1/2 naazhigais). But it is exactly not so. The time per lagna...

These Amazing People. A couple of weeks back I read in Vikatan a story (by Mr Ramakrishnan ?) in which an IIT-ian, MS-educated in US and employed in US, comes to his small town where his old father is employed as a kanakku pillai. The son does not have any high respect for his father's job - "after all a small kannakku pillai". One day, the son's mobile phone goes haywire, he can't switch it on or use it. All of a sudden, the son's world goes berserk - he does not remember a single telephone number, a bank a/c number, or any number for that matter. All blank. Every single digit is stored in his mobile ! Then, he overhears his father talking to a group of customers - the old man is reeling out figures after figures to each man. The son is astounded - how could this "small kanakku pillai" remember so many different numbers for so many people ? He is brought down to the earth with a thud, and he seeks forgiveness mentally from his father. There are many...

Baraats in GRSfamily Today in Indian Express I read a column on baraats and my mind floated back to some of the baraats in GRS Family. Not in the strict sense that the word is understood in North India, but the way we (the groom's party) travelled & reached the mandapam. In anna's (GSR) marriage (1956), I remember only that I travelled in First Class (railways) to Kumbakonam. thanks to the Free Passes that Pappa Chiththi had. Obviously, I impersonated someone in her family (Gopu, perhaps?). I don't remember how we travelled to Coimbatore for Sundaresan's marriage (1965). For my marriage (1971), I vividly remember we had packed everything by 9PM the previous night and everyone was sleeping as though in a station platform. The passenger train to Chengalpattu was at 4.00AM; we got up at 2 AM, anna brought a kattai vandi and we loaded our luggage and proceeded, on foot, to the station. At Villupuram station (6 AM) where the train halted for more than 30 minutes, anna an...

Who Needs a Menu Card?! Some weeks back I read that the latest trend in the hotel industry is to "throw away that Menu card." If you have a menu card, the thinking goes, you should have all the items printed in the card ready, for one wouldn't know what customers would order for! The inventory increases, workload increases, profits nose-dive. On the other hand, the thinking continues, if you prepare just a few selected items, the chances of success gets increased! I saw this "latest" (!!) thinking in operation yesterday, when Vijaya and I were strolling down the Mada Streets of Mylapore. Next to the Kapaaleeswarar Temple, we saw there was a crowd jostling around a window. Curiosity taking over me, I approached the window and I saw to my amazement that there was a house on the other side of the window; and they were selling bajjis. Just urulaikkizhangu bajjis and vazhaikkai bajjis. Only these two items. Persons, most likely Brahmin women, were making hot-hot bajj...