My Musings

Remember those old days when you had to stand for hours in front of a bank counter before you could finish your job there? The globalisation and modernisation in Indian Banks was initiated in 1991. And, since then what a remarkable improvements have occured? Even now (May 2012) a lot of improvements are on the pipeline. From the small improvement of electronic paper tokens as you enter your Branch, the improvements are very many. Lets see some of them briefly. MICR: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition - for clearance of cheques.  Started in late 1980s, there are now over 66 MICR centres in India. Cheques which were once cleared manually, are now checked electronically, thus reducing the time for clearance. Now this system is further being improved with Cheque Truncation System (CTS). Started in NCR area in Feb 2008, in this system the digital image of the cheque is generated and it is this image which is electronically transferred for clearing. Soon to be incorporated in ot...

Our previous visit to Bangalore was during Nov 2011 . [Read here]. This time, we started from Chennai on Wednesday, 15th Feb 2012, by Lalbagh Express (3-35PM). Krithika dropped us at Adyar Depot busstop at 2-10PM. [Vasu and Sruti also came with us in the car - they proceeded to TNagar]. We could get a bus after 20 minutes and that created a little tension. However, we could reach the train on PF 10 by 3-10PM. We travelled as usual by AC Chair car. The train reached Bangalore Cantonment by 1015PM and Ashok was waiting for us. We reached home by 11-15. Earlier, we ate Chapati - Avaraikkai Koottu in the train. Friday, 17 Feb :  We two went to the nearby MEENAKSHI MALL. A huge mall. Sunday, 19 Feb: Anand and family came; they had lunch here and left at 3PM. Monday, 20 Feb : Vijaya's 1965-classmate Mrs Mahalakshmi visited. She is from Banaswadi. Neeraja prepared bajji for her. She left at 4PM after spending nearly two hours with Vijaya. Tuesday, 21 Feb: Steig Larsson , a ...

ஒரு விசேஷத்திற்கு - உபநயனமோ, ஸீமந்தமோ, க்ரஹப் பிரவேசமோ, விவாஹமோ - எப்படி நல்ல நாள், நல்ல நேரம் கணிப்பது எப்படி என்பதை பார்ப்போம். முஹூர்த்த நிர்ணயம் செய்யும் க்ரமம் (வரிசை):- பாம்பு பஞ்சாங்கத்தை பக்கத்தில் வைத்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள். முதலில் யாருக்கு விசேஷம் நடக்கப்போகிறதோ அவரது ஜன்ம நக்ஷத்திரத்தையும், அது எத்தனையாவது நக்ஷத்திரம் (அஸ்வினி - ரேவதி வரிசையில்) என்பதையும் குறித்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள். உபநயனம் என்றால் அந்தப் பையன், சீமந்தம் என்றால் அந்தப் பெண். 1. எந்தத் தமிழ் மாதத்தில் முஹூர்த்தம் பார்க்கவேண்டுமோ அந்த மாதத்தில் செவ்வாய், சனி ஆகிய நாட்களை அடித்து விட்டு மற்ற நாட்களை எழுதிக் கொள்க. [ஞாயிறு, திங்கள் ஒரு கண்ணுள்ளவை; புதன், வியாழன், வெள்ளி இரண்டு கண்ணுள்ளவை; செவ்வாய், சனி கண்ணில்லாதவை. எனவே செவ்வாய், சனியில் எந்த விசேஷமும் செய்யக்கூடாது; ஞாயிறு திங்கள் மத்திமம்; புதன், வியாழன், வெள்ளி மிகவும் சிறந்தவை] 2. மரண யோகம் என்று போட்டிருக்கும் நாட்களையும் அடித்து விடுங்கள்.  3. தீதுறு நக்ஷத்திரங்கள் (ஆகாத நக்ஷத்திரங்கள்) என சில நக்ஷத்திரங்கள் உள்ளன --  ப...

ROYAPURAM or TAMBARAM? Madras, that is Chennai, has two Railway terminals - Central and Egmore. As the city has grown and expanded now, a need is felt for a third terminal to be built. Should it be Royapuram in the north Madras or Tambaram in the south Madras? Today (20 Jan 2012) a team is visiting Royapuram to have a proper personal perspective. Now, to history: Madras was founded over 370 years ago by Francis Day (and Andrew Cogan) in 1639 when he purchased 3 sq miles of land north of San Thome. Madras started growing, mostly around the Fort. George Town [Black Town] for formed for the settlement of Indians working for the British. Business houses were developed near and around Town. A road was built in 1814 to reach these main business houses. First Line Beach, it was then called, later changed to North Beach Road, and now renamed as Rajaji Salai. Parallel to this road was built Second Line Beach. On these two roads British constructed great merchant houses and banking insti...

KOILS in Tamilnadu Thousands of temples, small and large, abound in Tamilnadu. Times of India has highlighted some of these in today's (19 Jan 2012) issue. We will start with the 1000-year old temple of Thanjavur (Periya Koil). The Chola king Raja Raja Cholan built this Brihadeeswara temple in 1010. It is big in all respects - a gigantic stone Shiva lingam fills the Garbha Gruham, its tower (vimanam) is 216 feet tall.The temple's magnificence coupled with engineering marvel takes your breath. The structure has been built without using mortar.The Gopuram is unparalled for its geometric perfection, and masterly craftsmanship. The monolithic Nandi, the gigantic Dwarapalakas take your breath away. The inscriptions and the sculpture speak about the various karanams of Natya Shastra. You can read more about this temple, Raja Raja Cholan (Arul Mozhi Varman), his queen Lokamahadevi, and his sister Kundavai in Kalki's novels. Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities ...

I had not travelled travelled by Chennai MRTS so far. Whenever I see the train speeding over the elevated tracks, I used to have a desire to travel by this service. The opportunity came at last yesterday (12-01-2012) when I had to go to Ambattur and Avadi. We reached Thiruvanmiyur station at 0700 and the train zoomed into the platform at 7-10. It was very sparsely occupied. Chennai from the top_view is good looking. No garbages, no stink ! For a brief distance near Thiruvallikkeni station, one can see the lovely Matina beach. Getting down at Beach station, we boarded the train to Ambattur. Takes about 40-42 minutes to reach Ambattur. On the return path, we took the MRTS at Avadi at 5-30PM and changed trains at Beach. MRTS is comfortable but should improve further. The return fare from Thiruvanmiyur to Ambattur is just 18-00. The bus fare is Rs 25 one way !! Rajappa 11:40 AM 13-Jan-2012

New Year 2012 dawned on a bright note for us. This is the FIRST  "new-year" for us at our own house Kalakshetra Avenue. Last night, Arvind, Krithika, Aditi, Janani, Ram, Pradyun, Ranjani, Praveen, Sahasra went to Azzuri Bay, a restaurent in Adyar (Gandhinagar). Vijaya and I ate in the house and slept. We had lunch (on 1st Jan) at TSG's house (2nd floor). Vijaya prepared Senaikkizhangu varuval and we shared. Thus, our new year 2012 went off. rajappa 1 Jan 2012