Tag Archive: chennai


A couple of weeks back Nafisa and I found ourselves at Renie’s house in Chennnai a.ka. IndiBlogger headquarters. The reason for the sudden visit was to visit my Dad who was supposed to undergo an eye operation. Finally, that didn’t happen and it got postponed to June 2nd week.

So what did that leave both of us to do? We had the Sunday off to do anything we wanted. Renie had already planned that we could visit the Vandalur Zoo which has been designed like a National Park near Chennai. And on a Sunday afternoon we put that into action.

We entered the zoo and started tripping on the animals right from the primates area. Below is a photo of a monkey, one of very first sights, probably a langur or a lion tailed macaque.

vandalur_monkey

He/she was a quite bugger and quite far off to take good pictures.

The next was a big attraction near the entrance. The chimps were on an uproar and there was some kind of territory confrontation happening between two different groups of two chimps each. So there was so much shouting and stress in the chimp camp that there was a huge crowd just to witness this.

vandalur_chimp

Next were the birds which Renie normally doesn’t visit. But I like to trip on the birds too, so we went looking at the birds. Some of the interesting ones below:

vandalur_peacock

A white peafowl / peacock.

vandalur_cassowary

A Cassowary.

And then some mean looking Indian Bisons – also called Gaur.

vandalur_gaur

vandalur_gaur1

Above, a mother and calf.

And then, the Royal Bengal Tiger. He was really far off to get a decent shot.

vandalur_tiger

And then, the MAIN REASON why Renie wanted to go to Vandalur zoo, the White Tiger. Wow, this guy was a very good specimen with a majestic look. He walked around and put on a show for us, almost daring us to come inside. Damn good stuff.

vandalur_white_tiger

We spent quite a long time with the White Tiger before leaving for home. On the way, we said hi to the Asian Elephants.

vandalur_elephants

And, as usual, the best photos were taken with Renie’s Nikon. A sample given below:

vandalur_white_tiger1

Visit Renie’s Vandalur Zoo pictures at flickr for some amazing photos. And my pictures from flickr as a slideshow below:

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So the indiblogger team has assembled in Chennai gearing up for the Chennai blogger meet. Everything looks quite exciting here at Indiblogger HQ. Looking forward to meeting the Chennai bloggers. I have heard a lot about the Chennai bloggers being the most expressive of the lot of Indian bloggers. Hmmm… and I never imagined that Chennai is the blogging capital of India. I always thought it was Bangalore. But then if you have been in Bangalore for quite a long time your whole world revolves around Bangalore. Hehehehehe!

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So, the fabled indiblogger meet at Chennai date is finally almost there. The indiblogger team has been looking forward to and planning (er… read drinking) for the meet for (it seems like) years now.

The blogger meet at Chennai was proposed by Lemonade, a blogger from Chennai (DUH!).

08/06/2008 at 16:00
Chennai Blogger Meet

I have seen that the first person who says he/she wants to host or start a blogger meeting in his/her city gets to host the indiblogger meeting. This has happened time and time again.

SO IF YOU WANT TO BE A SUPERSTAR INDIBLOGGER MEETING HOST, I SUGGEST YOU START ONE IMMEDIATELY AT INDIBLOGGER.

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It all started with ICL. We were staunch followers of ICL. I always thought ICL paved way for a whole new beginning to Indian Domestic Cricket. Kudos to Zee Studios, Kapil Dev and co. for doing a wonderful job.

Now that IPL has jumped into the fray it is more and more fun. Cricket, not one of my favourite sports, has suddenly become a favourite for me. But only the 20-20 (or popularly denoted as T20) format of the game is fun for me. Who would have thought I will one day become a fan of cricket again? Hmmm…

One thing that bothered me is that the BCCI does not recognize ICL. They don’t have to, of course. But BCCI should not hamper ICL by putting a lot of dumb rules like, no official grounds for ICL, players in ICL will never play in the Indian team, etc. I mean, they play in ICL because they don’t get chances anyway. Hehehehe. Also, so many more people get a chance to play the game they love. And there are so many more jobs to be taken. At least in the name of economy don’t hamper the ICL venture. The stupid BCCI, just like a lot of other people and companies, is only concentrating on their ego and think they are a supreme power. A word of caution here – BCCI, you know what happened to KPS Gill just now, don’t you?

So, coming back to the topic of this post. I love these awesome Chennai teams. For the first time in life I am proud of one team. To tell you the truth I never felt so much about the Indian team. I did when I was a kid. But not anymore. Right now it is either the Chennai Super Stars of the ICL or the Chennai Super Kings of the IPL. The first four matchesx of the CSK were bloody victories with yesterday’s match a loss. But that’s nothing to worry. We’ve got Dhoni, the most expensive player in the IPL, who is a master strategician. I knew the CSK may lose one or two matches after Hayden and Hussey left to play for their home country, Australia, against the West Indies. But, Dhoni is bound to bring the team back in form. Just wait and see.

Above, Dhoni in form.

My most memorable match was the one against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The reason was that I was near the ropes watching the game being played out live at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. That was amazing and was a big eye opener. It gave me a lot of perspective about how the game is actually played on the field and I could feel the tension in the air. The awe inspriing knock by Dhoni was superb to watch on the field. When Bangalore came to bat I thought it was all over. They were extremely well placed with getting a very good run rate over after over. But then, as usual, Dhoni, managed to turn the tables over. Kudos to one of the greatest captains from India, M S Dhoni.

Below, the cheque for most number of sixers.

I am itching to watch the next match in Bangalore now!

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Now that came as a complete surprise to me. Really! It was totally unexpected from Tamil Nadu which is considered as really conservative.

Some sample excerpts from Ask Sex Doctor.

“I am Thrilled To know that Transgenders existence has been acknowledged by the letter T by the
Government of Tamil Nadu, by issuing ration cards, which is the prime identity card for people of India. Thanks to the social welfare minister Dr. Poongothai Aladi Aruna, who is a gynaecologist.

The People Development Initiative (PDI), an NGO is also happy.
Earlier, on December 21, 2006, another path breaking initiative was taken.The Tamil Nadu government had issued an order offering free sex reconstruction surgery (SRS) for the transgendered after counseling.

The step by Tamil Nadu’s civil supplies department marks the first time that authorities anywhere in India have recognised the group. In Tamil Nadu alone, where transsexuals like Pooja have begun getting ration cards on Thursday, the move will lead to an estimated 40,000 members of the community nowidentifying themselves as members of a third gender.”

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