Tuesday, August 12, 2014

World Elephant Day

On August 12, 2012, the inaugural World Elephant Day was launched to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants. The elephant is loved, revered and respected by people and cultures around the world, yet we balance on the brink of seeing the last of this magnificent creature.
Celebrate Elephant @ Kozhikamuthi Elephant Camp, Top Slip

The escalation of poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity are just some of the threats to both African and Asian elephants. Working towards better protection for wild elephants, improving enforcement policies to prevent the illegal poaching and trade of ivory, conserving elephant habitats, better treatment for captive elephants and, when appropriate, reintroducing captive elephants into natural, protected sanctuaries are the goals that numerous elephant conservation organizations are focusing on around the world.

Trunk
dad bears an elephant trunk
The World Elephant Day stressed the need to experience elephants in non-exploitive and sustainable environments where elephants can thrive under care and protection. The intention of this day is to share knowledge and support positive solutions for the better care and management of captive and wild elephant. (Read more on elephants current status here)

Footnote:
Pictures shot at Kozhikamuthi Elephant Camp at Top Sip, near Coimbatore. 

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Sunday Photo: Stanley Reservoir

Mettur Dam reached 100ft of water

Stanley Reservoir is one of the largest fishing reservoirs in South India, River Cauvery as its main source of water. The water is retained by the Mettur Dam, which has a capacity of totally 90 Tmcft!  The creation of the reservoir means submersion of two villages, all of whose inhabitants were relocated to Mettur.  

Fishing boat afloat

PS. Right now its celebration time at Mettur Dam, hence dam has touched 110ft of water on the total height of 120ft. Thanks to the heavy rainfall across Cauvery catchment, which forced the dams of Karnataka to release surplus water from the KRS and Kabini dams to rose to nearly 1,00,000 cubic feet per second from less than 40,000 latterly. The shutters of the dam are opened for samba rice cultivation from today. ( Photos composed while the level of water was about 75ft , while taking a drive on the dam few years back)

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Stories (memories) related to Tea Urn and Bicycle Vendors

Coffee and Tea has become an essential part of life and we grow up drinking either one of the other, depending on our lifestyle or taste buds; some take regularly or occasionally for refreshment and at the occasions of meetings and events, they becomes a treat. I know some who don’t drink coffee or tea, thinking it’s not good for health, but gulp bottles of soft drinks!  There isn’t certain facts how much good or not taking coffee or tea, but in my opinion there’s a limit for everything. I enjoy both coffee and tea according to my desire at that moment, but my most favorite is coffee. 

Coming to the post, I just thought to share some of my memories related to Tea Urns (can) and the vendors carrying it on their bicycles to make life out of selling tea or coffee. Since my grandparents have done dairy business and owning a tea shop then, I grown up watching their day-to-day activities but the Tea Urns are seldom used by them. They make coffee or tea using the milk that kept heated in a vessel directly on the stove and being a crowded residential area, theirs was the only tea shop to open from early morning to night and they work hard to keep up customers.

Mobile Tea
(Tea Urns tied to a vendor's bicycle at marina beach)
My initial memory of Tea Urn was in 1991!  During the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, all the shops were closed in Chennai or perhaps because of Bandh (a form of protest used by political activists in India) to mourn his death. Since the bomb blasts (in which he was killed) occurred close to Chennai (Sriperumbudur is 40km from here), there was a situation of anxiety everywhere and I still remember how uproar  my grandfather’s house street was, where the tea shop also lies, where people standing together here and there, and discussing about the matters…

My grandparent’s house is situated in one of the crowded or congested street in south Chennai and getting in and out of it is an adventure and taking a car means stickers in scratches. The people here don’t need a reason to engage in street fights and it used to be an entertainment for the residents here, to come leaning on the wall and watching the scene. So, in a situation like this, the turmoil has been in its full swing related to the assassination. My grandparent’s does not only run a tea shop, but also reared dozen of milch buffalos and couple of cows in the backyard. So shutting down the tea shop means, lose of liters of milk.

To avoid the situation, they sold the milk in black (market) through the side entrance of the house and the Tea Urn was filled and put on the street side to deliver tea.  I accompanied my uncle while he took care of the Tea Urn, open and closing the tap filling the little tumblers with tea. Every time I see a vendor pedaling with Tea Urn in the streets, I remember that moment and my grandparent’s use on Tea Urn is rarity and I have seen it only left ideal on the loft. Apart this, there was also a ginger coffee vendor who later joined the neighborhood of my grandparents.

He come from a very poor family and stayed at a rented hut, adjacent to my grandparent’s house along with his wife and an infant. His only source of income was selling ginger coffee in the Tea Urn carried on his only bicycle. Since they rented hut at our neighbor’s friendly house, I used to go to their house while playing around and have witnessed him filling the Tea Urn with ginger coffee. But with my bad memory I couldn’t recollect the procedure he handled in making the ginger coffee. (Couple of years back I happen to taste the ginger coffee while visiting marina beach, from one of the Tea Urn vendors and it was such hot and spicy to hurt my throat, and then I decided not to taste it anymore.)

It was also a period where the plastic or paper cups weren’t prevailed; so he used to take two small pails of water along with him, which used to hang on both sides of his bicycle’s rear carrier. He also put hang a wire basket on the handlebar with few dozens of steel tumblers, pressed one inside another, and once the customers sipped off he wash away the tumblers with the pails of water immediately, for another round of service. It was also interested to watch him tying the Tea Urn in his bicycle carrier, making sure it doesn’t fall off while pedaling on streets.

Can Tea Vendor
(A ginger coffee vendor at marina beach)
In early 20s, there was a bicycle vendor who used to visit my uncle’s workshop regularly to supply tea and coffee to the employees. My uncle runs a Maruti (car) workshop at the ground floor of our native house in Adyar and while I am quite out of the school then, I used to watch his (bicycle vendor’s) activates from our balcony. He used to put stand his bicycle in front of the workshop, which means getting a good sight on his from the balcony and unlike the ginger coffee vendor, who sold only ginger coffee, he was capable of selling 4 in one (bicycle).

He was such an active young person, and his hands used to play while he makes anything out of milk. With one Tea Urn (filled with milk) tied to his bicycle carrier, he satisfies four kinds of taste buds with sufficient use of coffee and ginger powders, hot teas brew and spice ingredient. He used to come hanging two wire baskets on the handlebar, one had two vacuum flasks of hot milk and teas brew and the other with three cylindrical boxes containing powders of coffee, ginger and spice for making masala milk! It’s another great entertainment for me, then, watching his series exchanges made between the beverages according to the customer’s request.

If it is for coffee, he picks up a little plastic cup (from a packet of series of cups that hang on the side of the Tea Urn) and drops a little spoon of coffee power and fills it with milk by opening the Tea Urn tap. Before he serves anybody, he make two long pours using another steel tumble he separately handled for this purpose. And for making tea, he opens of the flask and pours few mm of teas brew in the cup and makes another long pour after filled with milk. He maintained this act for every other beverage.

Many a time I had taken coffee from him and those days the quality of content used to be somehow fine… but these days they are just hot water Tea Urns. Except hotels, restaurants and homes, coffee or tea has gone so bad in taste and thickness at tea shops and bicycle vendors. Once, the tea shops at countryside used to be excellent in beverage, with the use of direct cow or buffalo milk, but now, they also seems well spoiled by making use of packet milk. I really feel regret how well have we gone down in quality and quantity compared to early days. Not only beverage, anything u takes lacks quality today.  

P.S. Both the pictures were captured at Chennai Marina beach at various moments, and what inspired me to write this post.

Sunday, August 03, 2014

Nephew’s drive

My nephew Barath is so passionate about cars and he is also capable of identifying any kind of vehicles at the age of 2.4!   When he hears a siren, he gush ambulance and for him any sort of SUVs is Jeep.

Nephew riding on his car :)
Here he rides his Swift car; actually it’s a pullback car but he likes only sitting on it and moving front and back. He cheers me excessively whenever he visits home and I really look forward to spent time with him, admiring his infant speech and childish behavior. He’s almost ready to go to lower kindergarten and so was his knowledge now. His parents teaches him through e-learning at their free time and being interested in watching television, he picks up easily with things  he sees on screen.

IMG_6480
Everyone conveys to put him in school as he learns things quickly; I really wish he joins the regular kindergarten like most others children instead going to a preschool. I wish he enjoyed his childhood as much he could before fall into the enforced education system. 

Nephew’s Swift

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Madras is Beautiful – A short video


Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is once again cherished though a slow motion video, that make feel one nostalgic about the city before it become modernized. An old gramophone spins merrily, pursued by fishermen carrying baskets of fresh catch… the camera moves then capturing the frothy waves crashing on the majestic rocks of Kovalam beach are the opening scenes of Madras is beautiful – a video by Madras Photo Factor.

The excellent in quality video is an absolute treat to not only Chennaities, but anyone who had come across Madras. Shot by Balaji Maheshwar, a 28-year-old documentary photographer, the video encompasses everything that is this city.  A beautiful tribute to the elegant beauty of Madras! The two and a half minute video was shot at the century-old dhobikhana, Marina Beach, Balaji Saravana Theatre, Kapaleeswarar Temple and Parry’s Corner.

The video also features filter coffee, an old Fiat car trundling by, boys playing beach cricket, a yellow cycle rickshaw and cultural elements like Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music. Through the background music sounds Bengali, it sooths despite unmatched to Madras essence. The video was shot in a month’s time and it was launched on Youtube on July 25 and at current ratio it marks 82,826 viewed and 991 likes. I loved the video :)

P.S. The team also reveal another video on the request of viewers, Madras is Calling, is a 4.33 minute-long footage shows more than enough in brief to make realize the love for city. It also has a Tamil background score which got it from A.R.Rahman’s composition for Swades.