If only you bring Vijay, Sun, Jaya TV etc. to the Apple TV box at a dollar a day or less..
you will have a million desi folks buying this gizmo..
So what if the Fox'es and NBC's do not want to go into negotiations with you for rights to play their serials episodes at 99 cents a pop?
When we asked an older relative how much TV serials they watched (on our recent India trip) the answer was..
"not much. Just 4 hours in the afternoon and 6 hours in the evening" and it was a straight faced answer.
That means, there are folks who watch a lot more desi serials.
Please go talk to Ekta Kapoor or Radhika Sarathkumar..
I see a bright future for Apple TV if you pick up that iPhone and make that call..
yours truly,
iPhone lover.
ps. I have only seen this Apple TV at a friends house. They told me that Tamizh serials are not on the list. So please forgive me if you are already ahead of the game.
On our last day at Manali, we decided to go all the way to Manikaran and then drive back from Manikaran to Chandigarh airport to catch a 7 PM last flight out to Mumbai.
Left Manali at 6AM and drove in rain through mountain sides where there were many rocks that had fallen on the roads (we did not read the news.. and had no idea that the entire area was taking heavy rains. Leh which was 100 or kilometers away had a cloudburst and many people died that week) and finally reached Manikaran at 8 AM.
Our expert driver told us "if you want to see Chandigarh airport by 6:30 this evening in this weather, you have to be back here by 9:15. That is assuming you get 30 minutes for one break!"
We took him very seriously and went past the bridge, the Gurudwara, the cave, the shiva temple, the durga temple, the ram temple including me taking a dip in the hot springs at the Ram temple!
What an entrance to a temple!
Here is a video where the little one is bugging me about a dog. She has a biscuit in her hand and it is eye level with the dog! Of course she couldn't shake him off!
Another 4000 year plus old temple with the same construct as the Vashisht temple in Manali..
There is a place here where a board says "Shiva and Parvathi are said to have meditated here for 13,000 years".
The bell at the temple entrance echoes through when you ring it.
For a minute you can totally believe why anyone would chose that as a location to stay put for 13k years. The steep green and brown cliffs on one side, the raging river on the other side, the hot springs on yet another side make you feel the power of nature and the ephemeral nature of man.
We did manage to race back to Chandigarh and it was one glorious drive past the airport, the Beas (Byas) Parvathi rivers confluence (sangam)
all the way around the Bilaspur lake, Sundar Nagar and along the Sutlej river into Punjab. We even drove past a new IIT near Chandigarh!
Here is a beautiful but noisy video..
We made it just 45 minutes before our flight, but it was enough for us to get into the plane and be on our way to Mumbai.
One amazing thing at Manikaran is that both the Gurudwara and the Temple have a Langar where they provide free food for anyone who walks in. They do this by throwing in sacks of rice and lentils and potatoes into the hot spring (which is pretty much boiling over) and out comes cooked rice, dal and aalo! Mother nature's kitchen. Should ask the food network to cover this. Truly amazing.
They also take some water and put a tea bag in it and drink instant Chai! Apparently there is a place which is a 2 day hike from Manikaran called Kheer Ganga where the water is hot and foamy that it looks like Milk. There you make Chai Latte!
Our driver told me, "only way is to hike, but the place is beautiful. You should take more time and go with a trained guide. The two day hike is worth it" and I was thinking "let me see. cannot get that kind of time off now with the little kids. by the time they are old enough to join me on a hike like that, I will be too old to hike!"
In any case, if there is a next time, we will try to see KheerGanga.
Happy enough that we got to see Manikaran. It is truly heaven on earth and the ride along the river is truly worth it, rain or rocks!
We were in Hyderabad for a little under 48 hours. In that time we managed to spend one whole afternoon at Ramoji Film City, which according to the Guinness book of World records is the largest film city in the world. It was a very good shooting location. It was also obvious that Ramoji had visited Universal Studios and Disney in LA and pretty much lifted sections 1:1 from things like the bus tour, the sign boards, the restaurant areas or the shows.
At some places it felt like we were in Universal and it is really a place to see. The only thing different between Universal and Ramoji is the crowd. Not the numbers, but the behavior of the folks in the crowd.
It clearly says "Wait from this point is 15 minutes" in most of the lines for various shows. Once you are in the line, you cannot get out. That said, pushing the guy in front of you is not going to get you in any faster! They send 80-100 folks inside at any one time. Unfortunately the majority of the folks in that crowd were not grasping that concept. They did not even have any sympathy for the kids in the line. It was one mad dash to compact everyone in the line. Finally figured out why the phase "patti kaatan in mittai kadai" existed. Except for the unruly crowd, the rest of the experience was nice.
However, Jr. and the little one now have a phobia for Desi theme parks. They are really scared of standing in lines where we cannot get out. Time will fix that. That need we checked out Bikanervala restaurant. Have never tasted a butter naan that good in a long long time. Simply melted in my mouth. Divine food! We need a branch in the bay area. Hopefully they will hear this plea! They have one in New Zealand for crying out loud.
The next evening we went to Charminar area to shop for Bangles, Mehendi etc. That was followed by a late evening adventure at Hussain Sagar lake including a boat ride to see the Buddha statue, a car ride for the kids and a few security friskings in all these places.
The hour we spent in Charminar was very interesting. Have been the only non white guy in a see of white faces, have been the only brown dude in a group of black folks, have been the only south Indian with a bunch of desis from the north and west, but being the only "mottai" with a couple of women in brightly coloured Chudidhars among a sea of women in veils and guys in tight jeans with skull caps made me feel like a stranger in a strange land.
There was a reason for not feeling odd but odd and scared. There are a couple of rowdy elements in plain sight in this area. One dude came and hit the bangle seller who was trying to bargain with us. Did not understand what he said but it was pretty clear that the seller was being discouraged from dealing with us.
It was me, San, SIL and three little kids. Me watching the curious kids and fending off as much as 5 to 6 dudes per minute trying to sell me the same pair of Rayban sunglasses while San and SIL checked out bangles. After that guy's hitting the bangle seller, just wanted to leave that area and get out in one piece. The kids were asking me why everyone was dressed differently in this area and why we could not see any of the girls faces. We had good explanations for them at the lake.
By the time we were at the airport trying to head to Delhi the little one asked "We are in Hong Kong already?". The Hyderabad airport is truly amazing. Excellent ambiance, customer service at the airline counter, stores, etc. Way better then any Indian airport we have visited.
Hyderabad is a fun city. We were not well oriented for it and by the time we got to know the city a little better, had to leave. . .
Next time, we will be ready for a better experience.
We left Mumbai in the wee hours of Independence day. Every trip to India, especially the metros shows how rapidly the country is changing (On this trip we visited Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai).
The Mumbai we visited 3 years ago and the Mumbai today shows a marked difference. The "goshala" which was visible from the apartment window is now an 18 story building. The sunset from the 6th floor window is not an available sight anymore. There are 4 high rises between the window and the sun.
There is a 6 story mall in Chembur that beats the local mall here in Cupertino hands down. Similar stores, similar prices, same "sales" and "deals", International food courts with popular Indian food chains thrown in, movie theaters with seat reservations and reclining seats and digital projection, Cleaning crews that regularly clean the floors every 5 minutes, paid parking lots, super clean restrooms, etc. etc.
India has also caught up or gone farther than the USA on some of the bad stuff. There is a security check with two metal detectors and a guard and a frisking booth to enter a mall. Same thing for any big restaurant, public park, etc. etc. The population should have gotten used to being checked and frisked at least 4-5 times a day as part of the daily routine.
The big cities have also learnt how to segregate the poor and hide them from the eyes of visitors for the most part. In the US, you don't see poor people in the suburbs. If you go to San Francisco you see homeless folks and beggars but not in huge numbers. The last visit to Mumbai had lots of poor folks trying to make a living and lots of beggars everywhere you went, from the airport to the busy road sides. This trip we did not see beggars. It is like they have all disappeared or relocated! The poor folks trying to sell trinkets to make a living were still there.
Still this experience stood out..
5-7 years ago when I was more hot blooded and less pragmatic, there would have been a different reaction to this 5-6 year old kid selling Indian flag pins few days before Independence day on a busy road where he was risking his life to make a few bucks (in all probability for someone else). Now that I am older and more sober to the reality of the world the way it is today, was content enough to pin the flags on my little girls and watch the smile on the kids face as he took the 10 rupee note.
If the poor go out of sight, they will soon go out of mind, if it is not the situation already!
The young twenty somethings in the metros who have salaries that allow them to spend and go to malls, especially with the lifestyle of living with their parents have become "americanized", not only in how they talk, dress, eat, shop, but also with the way they seem to treat the poor as unfashionable.
In the US it is okay to wait tables, it is okay to be part of a clean up crew as a "summer job" or a means to make a few bucks. I know kids who work the local grocery store as clerks and the local movie theater here at the ticket booth whose parents are well to do. That needs to catch up in India. That way there is a respect for everyone who does any job. That would be a welcome change.
A kid like that going to school and selling trinkets as a part time job from a safe store on the sidewalk would be an equally welcome change!
A whirlwind trip of India covering Chennai, Trichy(Gunaseelam), Hyderabad, Delhi, Manali, Chandigarh and Mumbai.. not to mention the various airport experiences...
This photo was taken in Gunaseelam after the mottai (mundan) three weeks ago..
This one was taken earlier today..
We are now back as is our hair! It has been a rocky 24 hours with the little one throwing up and daddy and Jr. reserving a bathroom each as designated resting places for the last 24 hours. Cathay Pacific airline food really needs to be checked for germs! Mommy who was wise enough to stick to grandma given "thayir saadam" and blessed enough with immunity has been taking good care of us.. ie., more thayir saadam for everyone!
Many thoughts to pen.. will need the brain to collate before the posts come out.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 11:43PM 
