Hey This Is India

Posted on by Karthic Vaidyanathan

March 11th 2010 was a day to remember. I booked an auto(tuk-tuk) to travel to the bank. The driver was chewing something and was second to none in cursing the roads and government rules. Although he did give some break in between to spit on the road. I listened to him patiently and did not utter a word back. He was constantly praising other countries and its beauty. Before, I got down he asked me didn’t if I did not like his arguments? I just replied like “Anna(Brother) I did like whatever you were speaking”. He replied “You look unhappy. Why might that be?”. I replied “You praised all the countries for their roads and cleanliness but you continued to spit on the road and . He replied “Hey bro, this is India”. I just smiled and replied “ I think you are missing a word here. Please tell it as Hey boy this is MY INDIA” and told him that I should probably retain some money for the clean India tax that I pay government. I knew by his reaction he was surprised and I gave him the money I promised and requested him to keep the city(country) clean before leaving the place. My cab driver asked sorry the very next moment and told me that he had been doing the same thing that the auto wallas were doing and promised me not to repeat it again. I felt much happier.

On April 2nd, On my way to Perambur, I was much elated to travel on the bridge that was supposed to be complete a decade ago. I must say it’s easily one of the well designed and a well built ones. But when I was about the reach the end of it, I found something that we are pretty much used to seeing in India. Writing names on the public walls. I felt heartbroken as the flyover was hardly a week old. When I expressed my dissatisfaction with my friend, I was not surprised by the response I received. Hey dude this is India. Why is there not a feeling that this is MY INDIA? Who else will care if we don’t? I hope this blog changes the view of the readers.

My sincere appeal to all those who read this blog to carry this message forward. Jai hind. Let’s try to keep this country as beautiful as possible.

Who else ll take care of mother India if we don’t.

Rock On

Posted on by Karthic Vaidyanathan

Wow wow wow… I was simply amazed. The temperature was close to 40 degrees…. 31/8/2008 can never be forgotten in my life. I witnessed one of the spectaculars. I was privileged to be a part of one the biggest event in the country but I would say biggest event in the world rather. We didn’t have greats like Sachin, SRK, or the Bachans to promote the event. Yet it turned out to be a massive massive hit. All these things refer to the Chennai marathon. People hold your breath for a minute….. It was recorded that nearly 1.7 lakh people participated in the event. The place was so heavily crowded that the Chennai run turned out to be the Chennai Walk rather.

I am proud to be part of Chennai. I have always wondered why people here have not gathered as in Calcutta, Bombay, and Delhi for certain things like Conditional Access Systems, Fuel Price hikes etc. But I learnt that people in Chennai never mind spending their time on something very useful like the marathon. The theme for the event was Chennai Life Marathon “Idhu Silar life mara than”(That is this MARATHON is to change certain people’s life). This event was organized to help raise funds for children to leave work and join the school. There were cheerleaders, multi-colour banners, so many corporate advertisements, and Balloons in different colours flying all around.

I was more moved when I saw a certain section of that crowd. There were physically and mentally challenged people in the crowd. I was out of words. My heart was full of joy seeing their involvement in such a noble cause and it was also sad to hear that a student lost his life in Marathon due to Cardiac arrest. I just pray to GOD that for the sake of these people let the money be used for the purpose it was collected. May the soul of the deceased rest in peace. Also saw people dressed in green, black, and leaves to support the causes for less fuel usage and saving the environment. But it was noticed by only a few. Hope it gathers momentum soon.

The Chennai crowd always rocks…… Vandharai Vazhavaikum Tamizhagam(“We make people from all races, creeds etc lead a healthy life) is true. this is yet another feather to the cap of the Chennai crowd. I still remember the standing ovation that the Pakistani Cricket team got when they won over India @ Chepauk. Regardless of which team played in the IPL Chennai crowd never booed any Indian playing against Superkings. We love u Chennai. “ROCK ON CHENNAI”

But I was really let down by the way it was organized. Man management was very poor. It became more of a mess for some people. But my blog’s intent was to wish and salute the people of Chennai with such a great heart. Hope the organization learns from its mistake and puts up a better-organised Marathon from next time.