Thursday, August 28, 2008

Final Jottings

I got marooned in the final events of Madras Day and so, couldn't keep the blog going!
But now that 2008 is over, I would like to post a few jottings.

Madras Live, the new FM radio station called me over for a chat on Aug.22 morning and the 90 min programme was fun. It gave me an opportunity to tell the city what the Day was all about.
It would be nice to have all our stations focussed on this theme in the years ahead.

The exhibition at Rajaji Hall, the work of D. H. Rao and Raja Seetharaman, got the support of Nalli and TN Tourism. The weekend brought huge crowds, Rao said.

Quizzers may not recognise this event but the Tamil Quiz on Madras that Revathi R. ran for our schools was a warm affair. The best thing about it was the fact that it wasn't a cold contest. The kids enjoyed the session and we kept the questions simple and current. Finally, at the wire, the girls from Rani Meyyammai school pipped the boys from Raja Muthiah.

We had very thin crowds for the docu films screenings on Sat and Sunday. Thanks to Mohan Das Vadakara who spun the DVDs, the screenings were smooth. 
A lot more work needs to be done in producing new docus on the city and that starts now!

Sunday morn was abuzzzzz  - there were give walks in different parts of the city.
I launched the Mount Road walk with 15 people alongside and it took us a little over 2 hours to do the run from The Hindu to Agurchand Mansions.
Sundays have their bonuses - you can storm buildings whose gates are half closed! So we ran up to the 2nd floor of Agurchand and got a grand view of Mount Road!
I hope to have many more Mount Road walks in the months ahead! (Sign up at madraswalks@gmail.com)

And finally, we ran the Madras Quiz at a new venue off Luz. There must have been about 200 people. But it remained warm and easy - the way it has always been. (My colleague Revathi hopes to post the prelim and final set of questions on this blog so if you weren't there you can take them in slowly.)
I think many people didn't like that question on Chinnamalai Pork Curry! Not apt? Not in good taste? Not Madras-like?

I caught up with Mohan at his docu film show at Sastri Hall, Luz. R V Ramani's  ' If I Die' was the last to roll. It is an old docu on Shihan Hussaini. 
At dinner Mohan and I decided we should promote more fresh docus on Madras. So we have work on our hands now for 2009!


3 comments:

Lakshmi said...

hi, mount road walk was very good..Ive still not posted about it on my blog though..just finished triplicane (the photowalk I attended) - do see the same at http://backpakker.blogspot.com . I should be doing a story on madras day and celebrations for some magazines..will let you know :)

Vincent D' Souza said...

Thanks Lakshmi for the nice words.

Stories and notes like yours will get Madras Day far and wide.

Hope to see you again in 2009.

Shantaram said...

Hi Vincent,

Just to let you know that I posted on the Madras Day quiz here - and also talked about the Chinnamalai Pork Curry here :)

Cheers!