Chennai, The 7th Most Hated City in the World
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on October 19, 2009 – 4:28 pm -After Krish pointed out Lonely Planet about some of the facts on Chennai, our beloved city, Lonely Planet did put a shabby effort to re-write the piece which does not look as miserable as it used to before.
Lonely Planet however, does have another interesting Article. They call it the Cities you really hate and they list a lot of cities and its anybody’s guess Chennai is on it too and it repeats again, like it did in the previous article…
We describe it as lacking Mumbai’s prosperity, Delhi’s history or Bengaluru’s buzz.
I’m going to merely repeat what has already been said before by many people on krish’s blog.
1. Mumbai’s Prosperity – Sure yes, they have bollywood. How come our Kollywood, the second most largest movie industry got ignored on this front? How come Chennai being the backbone of Indian automotive market got comfortably ignored? In Chennai, we don’t have Benz SUV’s running over people sleeping on the platforms and killing them at large and the driver walking away scot free. The poor get a little less poorer here some of the times and maybe richer too occasionally compared to mumbai’s “rich getting richer & poor getting poorer” as our super star rajinikanth would say. On one side lies five star hotels and Benz SUV’s (which are manufactured in sriperumbudur – an industrial town setup near Chennai) and on the other slums where people undergo untold pain and hardship. Ever heard of sustainable development/progress? That’s Chennai for starters. Finally, we definitely don’t have to worry about the underworld that bollywood is so famous for.
2. Delhi’s History – I will quote from Chandrachoodan’s words since i can never top him when it comes to Chennai’s History…
What history can Chennai claim? Besides being the first major city the British built in India, besides it 1000 year old temples and 500 year old churches and 200 year old mosques and ancient port towns and stone-age settlements, what history can Chennai claim? The city has absolutely no history, which is why even the Portuguese thought it not wise to give Santhome away as dowry to the British king, opting instead to give them Bombay. The city has no history whatsoever, which is why almost all of Independent India’s institutions had to be founded in Madras. The city has no history or why else would the British pioneer the architectural style of Indo-Saracenic, fusing Muslim/Persian styles with the classical styles of south India, in Madras?
3. Bengaluru’s Buzz – For starters, how about Chennai being the Second largest software exporter in India, behind Bangalore being ignored without any sort of hesitation? Secondly, how about Chennai being the backbone of the Indian Automobile industry with over 40% of production + distribution happening in plants setup in and around Chennai by Hyundai, Maruti, Tata, TVS and Mahindra. Answers where all those damn cars in Outer ring road (that clogs the narrow Bangalore roads and make the city hell to drive around) comes from, don’t it.
My only question here is this. “How do you hate a city?”
I mean i can understand if you are a foreigner and you are asked to relocate to a new city and you find the food and the culture and practices hostile and you hate life for that moment of time while you get adjusted to it or try and fit in desperately. I’ve been through that in Bangalore and i can accept that but then i eventually moved on and now i love that city and would not hesitate to move back if conditions favored. But as a “traveler” or a “tourist” how can you hate a city? I mean, if you get mugged or robbed or raped its one thing, still hating a city on the whole? I mean why would you even have an article that says “hate” on your site when your intent is supposed to be promoting factual, neutral and unbiased information about a place. I don’t get it, seriously.
The whole point of travelling, i feel personally is to experience. Its agreed not all experiences may be pleasant or something everyone would like. However, just because a few people wanted to play it too safe and never got to know the real local things to do and have fun in a place, does that make the place hated? Wow, this is possibly the first time im hearing such an idea.
Finally you also say…
Even the Movie stars are ‘not that hot’
As you put it and you even claim you are being kind. Kind for not being more sexist?
You seem to have this thing for rating a movie star based on looks and sexuality and nothing more, probably. While looks and sexuality are a major part of a movie star, which i completely agree on.. its not everything. I can agree with the fact that we brown and black skinned Tamilian’s are not as appealing and sexy compared to the white skinned north Indians. That’s the only way i can put it. I fail to see it in any other terms. I do agree our heroines are fat and yes, we like them that way. We prefer them to anorexic women with oversized implants whose silicon in the breast weighs more or less their own body weight, they diet so hard like “oh my god if i don’t eat one more meal i may die of starvation” looks. We have this fetish for some oversized women and i certainly do not deny that. Why else would Shakila be the most famous porn star in the country? Oh wait, did i say country? Wow, yes that includes my north Indian friends who are truck loads in number that love some shakila porn on their comps and always keep asking if there is something new, quite embarrassingly.. one has to admit, being south indian.
Nevertheless, if you knew who Trisha, Simran, Asin, Shreya are and if you ever looked at how our women swoon to see topless Surya or scream on seeing our Superstar Rajinikanth who is loved for his charisma on screen and Ulaganathan Kamalahasan’s exceptionally directed movies and acting skills, you would not really have made that naive statement. I guess sweaty Cleavages, almost nipple revealing clothing and always bare bodied hero’s of the north is what you are fond of, probably. I will admit, i get excited too, looking at deepika padukone or aishwarya rai’s [who by the way entered the movie industry via a “Tamil” kodambakkam (a place in chennai) film] frame but i do snap back to reality and don’t get carried away. There are to many lovely pairs of women’s bosoms and i cant be stuck with a few all the time. After all, variety is the spice of life. However when it comes to the movies, we like the usual masala flicks like any indian but get very serious about quality performances, script, story-line, sequencing, editing and playback which are all things we fight and argue about over a cup of filter kaapi at saravana bhavan or karpagambal’s mess. If you wanna know more on this read this too. If you still aint satisfied, i invite you to karpagambal’s mess where i will treat you to the world famous in chennai filter coffee and masala dosai to discuss this matter seriously with another 20 of us chennai’ vasi’s (fuck chennaikers) who will fiercely debate the issue with great passion.
I know, if at all i have any chance some Lonely Planet writer will drop by and put a politically correct statement in a decent manner (unlike the flair with which i use expletives and im so infamous for) stating some stuff which obviously will mean “that’s what people think abt Chennai, its full of shit so get lost” kind of remark that was already posted like this in Sharanya’s blog.
But hey, its a blog and unfortunately it happens to be mine. We are a democracy and everyone has the freedom of expression (unless you are messing with the real baddies in which case thou shalt be wrong) to say what they want, so there goes my 23 minutes of ranting on a random blog no sane person on planet earth would waste time reading or comment to result in futile results.
Tags: Chennai Sucks, Hated Cities, Lonely Planet, Madras
Posted in Chennai, country, crib, media, opinion, rantings | 23 Comments »
To babe or not to babe?!
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on January 5, 2009 – 11:38 am -A very interesting conversation came up today on twitter. I came across this person a few days or perhaps a week back and her blog and her work. Today morning there was a tweet from her about her work being reviewed on a website. Eagerly i went on to read the review and i found the following line in the review, well actually that was the title of the review.
“two chio Asian babes and their travels around the world”
I liked the review but then i was disappointed with the way it was named. After an exchange with another friend of mine and thinking over it, im in a situation i often am in. Confused!
The point is this. The usage of the word “babes”. I think its not a necessary word to use. We are talking about a persons travel, the work he/she does and his/her contribution to society/art etc.,
Why in the world would i want to even know what gender he/she is? Its about the WORK and not about the physical attributes of the PERSON that you want to talk about. Yes, the person doing the work is equally important but then you aren’t reviewing the person. You are reviewing the work? aren’t you?
While in real life the women who did the travel and shot the videos may be hot chicks or as refereed to babes, its okay for a friend or a relative to refer to them both as babes for fun. Its probably okay for the men to talk behind her back when she walks around the mall or on the roads that she is a babe but for a media outlet to portray the babe in someone when reviewing their work does not sound normal to me.
I understand that babe can also be intended as a compliment and in fact in this case it might be too, i could never tell. What im not understanding is how long will we paint the woman = babe colors in our society? I find it rather a bit too stereo-typing all young attractive women. What if the woman did not create the work of art that was reviewed to be called a babe, what if she did it to be recognized as a photographer or a freelancing journalist? Is babe the word to use?
I recollect Richard Dawkins talking about feminists raising our awareness about us using male specific or male appeasing terminologies in daily life like “mankind” and “man made” when “human kind” or “human made” is perfectly acceptable and gender neutral a term.
In my personal opinion, i found the work very simplistic, to the point and very personally intimate without commercial journalism wrapped around it. I liked it.
So my question still is babe? Was babe a qualifier or babe an element of jazz that adds sparkle to the work? it don’t great but if it did, why?
I would probably never know.
Posted in daily life, friends, media, personal, rantings | No Comments »
The Photo Thief Seminar (post 12th Photowalk)
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on October 16, 2008 – 4:18 am -Hello Everyone,
Owing to weather issues our Workshop did not go well last weekend hence for the benefit of the crowd and for easier attendance i intend to run this workshop again immediately after the Photowalk.
Please reserve about an hour and a half past the photowalk.
We will convene at a location that is convenient after the walk.
So in a nutshell after the walk we could convene at a place convenient for all of us, probably somewhere quite close by and indoors with as little ambient noise as possible and do this.
Tentatively this shall be around 10 AM (hoping the walk is done by this time) and go upto 11 AM and a 30 minute session for questions.
Agenda:
1. Overview of the Copyrights Law
2. What the Law lacks?
3. How vulnerable are you images?
4. How to protect your images?
5. You’ve been robbed, what to do?
6. You’ve been robbed, what NOT to do?
7. Fair use rights, what’s hot and what’s not
8. Future plans for legal action and reforms on the law.
9. Q & A session.
Who needs to attend?
If you have a camera and you have displayed your images in a public space, you should come listen to this stuff. Its scary and its re-assuring as well. 
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The Photo Thief Seminar
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on September 29, 2008 – 11:58 pm -Okay, so i think i’ve made up my mind on what to do and where to do stuff about this seminar.
Place: Barista, G.N. Chetty Road, T.Nagar
Time: 12 Noon
Date: 12th Oct, 2008 - Sunday
Agenda:
1. Overview of the Copyrights Law
2. What the Law lacks?
3. How vulnerable are you images?
4. How to protect your images?
5. You’ve been robbed, what to do?
6. You’ve been robbed, what NOT to do?
7. Fair use rights, what’s hot and what’s not
8. Future plans for legal action and reforms on the law.
9. Q & A session.
Who needs to attend?
If you have a camera and you have displayed your images in a public space, you should come listen to this stuff. Its scary and its re-assuring as well.
Posted in flickr, idea, media | 1 Comment »
Fully Hyd Apologizes
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on September 24, 2008 – 9:09 pm -Phew, i’m so damn saved. I’m just so happy i don’t have to go to court and the police station again all over and run around like a rat on opium. Fully Hyd’s CEO today called and apologized for the usage of the picture.
Contrary to my expectations he was not rude and in fact quite honest and apologetic about what happened. The last thing i wanted 2 days before a melbourne trip was a pending legal issue on my head and im so glad it went through fine.
Posted in "copyright violation", daily life, flickr, incident, india, media, personal | No Comments »