Sunday, October 28, 2007

Chennai News 82

CHENNAI NEWS
(NEWS OF CHENNAI AND TAMILNADU BY ENVERNATHAN)
Volume 82 (October 2007)

Enver’s Rambling.

It looks like the bit of nostalgia really hit the sweet spot. I had lots of people writing to me about their childhood which was quite interesting to read.

The one time that we do observe fasting here is for the Navarathri festival. Most homes set up shelves with all kinds of dolls and figurines. People mostly ladies and children usually visit each others homes and admire the Navarathri dolls. They also get little symbolic presents. Gowri usually gives cards of the latest dots. The little girls just love this. We also have a lot of dolls from Africa which makes our display a little different.

When the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project was first mentioned it was welcomed by all. This project would result in the dredging of the Palk straits which lies between Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka. This would have meant a saving of 480 nautical miles by ships going from eastern India to the west with the resultant saving in time and fuel. Industry and exporters welcomed this move.
However now with one eye on the next elections the BJP (which was in power when it was sanctioned) and other Hindu pressure groups are now asking for the project to be stopped because it would mean dredging across the Ram Sethu ‘bridge’ said to have been built by Rama the hero of the Rayamana. The fact that there is no proof that the bridge is man made and not a natural phenomenon is being ignored. Also the bridge is on the sea bed and underwater and is of no use to anyone. In fact it has only been seen by NASA using sophisticated equipment from space. The Chief Minister of Tamilnadu who is a rationalist further raised the ire of the Hindu lobby by saying that Rama of the Ramayana is a fictional character and the book is just to justify Aryan Imperialism. Not surprisingly I have heard this theory from many Tamil scholars in South Africa. In fact the state government went on a 24 hour strike to highlight the project. This meant that the Moodley family who had arrived a day earlier had to take a day off and cool their heels in their hotel. The same thing happened to Umavathy and her sister in Kanykumari. However there was a lot for them to see walking around.

For you your information I have three gmail accounts. I use the egovender@gmail.com account for all mail concerning Chennai News and the Movie Club, the insatours@gmail.com for all mail concerning the tours etc and envernathan@gmail.com for my personal mail. However I don’t seem to get a lot of personal mail anymore. All the ladies including my sister now seem to sending mail to my son Kamesh. I am not complaining just making an observation.

I now have my skype connected so you can talk to me at your will. I have also joined the Facebook network. www.facebook.com Mail me if you want to join in. It is really fun and I have found so many long lost friends. I have two groups in it Indo South African Tours (started by Kree Raman from New Zealand) and Tamil Movie Club. My code name in both envernathan. Having a unique name means, I can get on to any site just using my first name.

Nostalgia

When I said that I was the leader of our group it was not because of brawn but rather because of brain. Since I started school at 5 years I found that I was the youngest in the class. Most of my friends were actually a few standards below me while many of their elder brothers and sisters were in my class. While Roy was my best friend in class it was actually his younger brother Bully who I played with. Some of the others that I remember were Ellapin, Ganas, Nanda (whose sister Devigi was my classmate), Lallu, Harris, Ganas, Dennis (whose father was a pro golfer and had played with the great Papwa – His sisters were Mitharee and I think Shakun), Dass and Raymond (who was younger and only joined us if Dass was not around). The reason I am mentioning the names as I want people to contact me if they are reading this.

There were times however when the younger and older boys would get together. Mostly to play sports as we were needed to make up the numbers. We normally played football, rounders, gilly gandha, three tins and some other games that I have forgotten the names and have not seen since. I don’t ever remember playing cricket. The one game that we played really well was tennis since we had a tennis court in FOSA. My father was the tennis champ of the settlement. He had also played the game at Sastri College.

The other time was when we would perform as a band. The unquestionable leader of the band was Billy who was one mean guitarist. I was one of their singers. My forte was singing the songs of Elvis Presely (the king) the greatest singer ever to walk the planet. He was my idol. Remember the song “I’m all shook up” well that was my favourite. We performed at lots of birthday parties and other small gigs mostly in the settlement.
Our big break came when Billy excitedly told us that we had been booked to perform at a big party that Saturday night. We practised like hell to be perfect for the night. However one thought kept nagging me. How was I going to tell my father and would he give me permission. Now don’t get me wrong, my father was a great guy but he was also a stickler when it came to time and house rules. After 6pm I had to be at home. Remember I must have been about 7 or 8 years old at the most. However as they say fortune favours the brave. I was really over the moon when I heard my father tell my mother that they were going out on Saturday night.

So as soon as they went out I left my sister Jayambal in the care of Cuppamma (the lady who looked after us) and joined the rest of the band. We were made to sit in the back room until it was time for the music. Billy asked me to sing the first song. We were all set and when the lights came on I belted out my song and shook my hips and danced like no more. The song ended and there was great applause. I then glanced at the audience and froze. There seated in the front row was my mother and father. Both were quiet. My father who was so stunned at seeing me and my mother probably wondering what was going to happen when we got home. However I was a favourite of most of the staff and patients and with their encouragements sang a few more songs. Maybe my father enjoyed my singing because I did not hear anything more from him. I forgot all about the incident until the next issue of the Fosalink was published. This was an in-house magazine of the settlement. There was a photograph of me and an article on the performance. The editor had written “And Peter’s son Enver stole the show – He sang like Elvis and danced like Presely” obviously someone with a good sense of humour.
Tourism Scene

It is not often that the family has time to go on a holiday. However when I realised that I had no tourists in the city during the boys school holidays we decided to go on a small holiday down south, risking the ire of all my clients waiting for their quotes and itineraries.

On the first day (Saturday) we headed towards Chidambaram. We had made a late start as I wanted to send of all my emails before I left. We reached Chidambaram at 4pm just before the temple could open. Gowri and the boys went to the Nataraja temple and Yogi (my driver) and I went to visit the Hotels. We then drove to the town of Vaitheeswaran which is also famous for the Shiva temple of the same name. This is my in-law’s family deity (Koladevam). The town has a beautiful resort called Sadha Abhishegam and I was quite impressed with it. However they were full so we drove to Kumbakonam were we spent the night at Kasi International. I had booked an Air Con room but found we just could not sleep as it was too cold. Food is very cheap down south and biriyanis for all of us came to about R60 in total. Spending the night in the same hotel was all the participants of the Sun TVs program Asaita Poovadhu Yaaro. My boys knew all of them.
The next day we drove to Thanjavur where I inspected the Hotel Gnaanam and Oriental Towers and I was impressed with both of them. We then drove to Madurai via Trichy were we had stopped for lunch. By consensus we had decided to eat vegetarian breaksfast and lunch and non vegetarian dinner. Yes I know it is Puratassi but almost no one here fasts. However it must be remembered that here non vegetarians eat an almost 90% vegetarian diet.
While the four of them visited the famous Meenatchi temple I visited a few hotels and also caught up with all my Emails. Madurai is famous for it numerous little bistros and we decided to eat here rather than in the Hotel. We stayed in the new Hotel Golden Park. Once again we used an AC room but switched it off halfway through the night.
On Monday we drove down to Kanyakumari stopping for lunch in Tirunavelli. We made it to Kanyakumari by 3.30 pm which gave the four enough time to take a ferry to Vivekanandha Rock and the 133 ft high Thiruvalluvar statue. You are now allowed to step of at the rock. Gowri and the boys were very impressed with the statue.
We stayed in the Siva Murugan Hotel which was very good. However this time I was clever and used a non AC room which came at half the cost. Siva Murugan has 2, 3 and 4 bedded rooms. I also visited the Melody Park Hotel which I also use for my guests.
For our supper we visited one of the fast food stalls. I was surprised that I could buy a whole fish for just Rs 40 (about R7). You get a chance to select the fish and it is fried to your specification. While the others ate parotas I looked around and bought a loaf of salt bread from the British Bakeries.
We were woken up to see the sunrise and we went up to the roof of the building to catch this beautiful sight. Kamesh who is now the official family photographer took some stunning photos.
The next morning after breakfast we drove to Kuttralam. The drive was really beautiful and also very peaceful. The road skirts the western ghats, a range of low mountains. Our first stop was Papanasam were we all visited the impressive Shiva temple. We were in time to witness an abhishegam and the singing of the beautiful Thevaram hyms. We then drove to the Papanasam falls. Here one is allowed to bathe at the bottom of the falls. The cascading water falling on you is an experience of a life time.
My boys are very sceptical to try anything new however once they dared to step in they did not want to come out. We then went up to the Agisthiar dam. Yogi told us that we could take a boat ride and visit the much bigger Agasthiar falls. However as this would have taken a few hours we gave it a miss and drove on to Kuttralam. We checked into the Kuttralam Resorts where I discovered that the manager James was an old boy of the Madras Christian College which I and almost Gowri’s whole family had studied in.
After changing to suitable attire we made it to the Five falls, one of the many waterfalls were bathing is allowed. By then the boys had already had a dip in the resort’s pool. I was persuaded to have an oil massage which the boys had also gone for. If I thought that the Papanasam falls was the ultimate then this made it look like a baby falls. Imagine standing under water falling from a height of about 20 metre. The effect is mind blowing. In no time all the oil is washed off your body by the force of the water. I had made sure that I had tied a belt over my shorts. Quite a few guys lost their shorts and lungis. Since the bathing areas are separate for males and females it did not really matter. Yogi tells me that we were only the second lot of South Africans that he had brought to Kuttralam. The other group was Asogan Moodley and his family earlier this year. However I did remind him that my auntie Lutchmee from London had also gone to Kuttralam late last year. Gowri said that it was over 25 years since she had last visited Kuttralam. Right through our marriage she has been telling me about this wonderful place. For me it was better late than never. I will now make sure that I try and send all my clients here time permitting.
The next morning it was back to the falls for a last dip. The overnight rain had increased the flow of the water so that it was even more powerful. Weaklings had to hold on to the iron poles so that they did not get swept off their feet. However it is completely safe as the water flows into a shallow pool before making its way to the plains.
We had built up a healthy appetite and were shocked when the bill for a really sumptuous breakfast for all five of us came to less than R20.
We had decided to drive till evening and stay over for the night at whichever town we happened to stop at. However when Yogi said that Chennai was just 550 km away we decided to forgo the night halt. We arrive in Chennai at 10.30 pm, a journey that had taken us some 11 hours with stops for lunch and refreshments. I would not recommend this for my clients. I don’t like them to travel at night.
Most of the roads are being widened and are still under construction. I guess in a few years time once all the roads and bridges are completed driving time will be cut by half.

The September tour is over and from what I heard all of them enjoyed themselves. I have thus decided to arrange tours for the months February and March. I am also planning a trip in July to coincide with the holidays there. In this one I will hit all the cool spots. At the moment I am busy liaising with travel agents to book the flights. I will give you all the details in the next Chennai news or maybe in the weekend news.

One of my readers Pravin phoned me a few days ago. Apparently for the last few months he has been trying to get his father-in-law to contact me to plan his trip to India. However the gentleman did not take much notice of him. A few days ago his father-in-law had gone fishing and he causally mentioned to those fishing around him that he was thinking of going to India. He says in unison all of them told him “Don’t waste your time - Contact Enver in Chennai”. So his son-in-law smugly told him ‘but I have been telling you this for many months.

Movie scene

I have 96 people who have shown interest in the Movie Club. I am still in phase 1 of my recruitment. This is for people who I know on a first hand basis. Once I have recruited all of you I will move onto phase 2. I will soon let you know what this is. Here are the names of the people who have joined the club. If your name is not listed here and you have intimated that you have joined please let me know as I could have missed it. There are lots of people who have verbally told me that they want to join but I will only add your name once I have it in writing. I don’t want to be presumptuous.

Enver Govender, Gowri Govender, Kamesh Govender, Mahesh Govender, Krishnambal Govender, Jayambal Govender, Ivan Reddy, Jayson Govender, Sivani Naidoo,
Devi Reddy, Saras Ponnen, Kasturi Pillay, Tholsie Subramony, Vincent Fredericks, Jayshree Karan, Vasantha Govender, Asogen Moodley, Kogie Moonsami, Michael Lachimiah, Kogie Moorthi, Kogie Archery, Pauline Naidoo, Pravie Govender, Vassie Packree, Rani Naicker, Strini Moodey, Vis Goveder, Amudha Nardhamuni, Logan Govender, Patma Naidoo, Rani Govender, Namasundari Padayachee, Yogi Pillay, Venu Naicker, Yana Pillay, Magen (Gopie), MV Rajah, Sharmala Naidu, Robin Pillay (3 members), Steve Kandasamy, Olaga Naidoo, Kumaran Moodley, Selvan Moorthy, Gonnie Govender, Ronnie Govender, Nelson Govender, Selvan Velayudan, Savy Naidoo, Reggie Mariemuthu, Krish Govender, Murthi Sooboo, Preggy Govender, KN Moodley, Cliffy Muthu, Stanley Perumal, Teddy Sigamoney, Charles Reddy, Magen Moodley, Savy Perumaul, Renee Moodley, SAGIE DOORSAMY, Rani Nair, Mac Naidoo, Poovie Govender, Vasantha Govender, Ramanjulu Loganathan, Vas Moodley, Indren Pillay, Derrick Pillay, Puven Akkiah, Robert Moonsamy Gengan, Shalina Moodley, Pam Moodley, Yugeshan Naidoo, Karran Moodley, Saras Moodley, Vikesh Moodley, Tinesh Moodley, Kris Govender, Seelan Naidoo, Mogarasathavan Kistasamy, Siva Moodley, Benny Rasen, Devan Govender, Indran M Govender, Morgan Nadasen Odayar, Terrence Pillay, Nalini Naidoo , Indrani Palad, Shamilla Govender, Danny Mudaly, Kogie Govindsamy.

I wonder who will be the 100th member.

After a long wait the movie Katradhu Tamil (aka Tamil MA) was released. The promos had the story of a student who insists on studying Tamil and the consequent problems that he faces. The story line really intruiged me. However it was not what I expected. The acting by Jeeva, Karunas and debutant Anjali was just brilliant. Anjali plays his childhood friend who he meets again years later. The frustrations of the hero is much more than because of his studies in Tamil. The problem starts when he is a little boy and he witnesses the death of his mother and grandparents. His father abandons him in a boarding school and he grows up as a loner. However the movie becomes too intense and at times had me wincing. The killing spree that Jeeva indulges in just seems to have no justification. However the one-liners where he complains about the difference of the haves and the have-nots seemed to have touched a nerve in the audience as there was much applause for this.
Music scene

The music of Bheema is finally out. The movie stars Vickram and Trisha. The CD has six songs by music director Harris Jayaraj. All six are good but the songs Mudhal Mazhai sung by R Prananna, Hariharan and Mahathi and the song Enadhuyirae sung by Chinmayi, Sadhana Sargam, Sowmya Rao and Nikhil Matthew are excellent and the pick of the album.

Pollaadhavan is the latest movie of the Boss’s son-in-law Dhanush.
The first song is composed by Yogi B and is a combination of rap and a remix.
The second song Minnaigal Koothaadum is a beautiful ballad sung by Karthik and Bombay Jayashree. Alibaba Thangam sung by Suchitra and Yugabharathi is an upbeat song that will keep you foot tapping. Neeya Sol by Benny and Sunitha Sarathi is another beautiful upbeat ballad with touches of jazz. Padichi Pathen composed by Dhina and sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Kabilen is an upbeat song that is out and out dance music. All the songs are good as one would expect in a Dhanush movie.

Vinayagar Arul is a collection of nine songs on Vinayager sung by Krishnaraj. The lyrics are by V Sriram Sharmaa and the music by Aravind. All songs are beautifully sung and makes for really good listening.

Narthana Vinayagaa is also a collection of songs dedicated to lord vinayaga. Seven of the songs is sung by TL Maharajen (son of Trichy Loganathan) who has also composed the music. One sung is sung by Sakthidaasan and here the music is composed by L Krishnan. All eight songs are just divine. I could not stop listening.

My consignment of music has finally arrived in Durban. I have a collection of devotional and film mucis on CD and MP3. Also lots of songs on VCD and DVD. Lots of comedy tracks and dances also. Prices range from R20 to R60 for the MP3s.


Classified Section.

The shipment has finally arrived in Durban. I have lots of Music and religious atifects, Salangi (bells) for dancers, shawls, posters, stickers etc
Phone my mum at 031-2086929.

The Sydenham Tamil Society has re-started the Veena and harmonium classes after the eisteddfod. The teacher is Dr Deena Pillay a student of the late Mr GN Moodley. For more details contact my sister Jayambal Govender at 031-2086929 (h) or 031-2603106 (o).

Sri Saradha Institute of Arts and Culture (Free Tuition in Tamil, Music & Dance)
Saturday 9.00 - 11.00 at 39 Munn Road - Ottawa
Thursdays 18.00 - 20.00 at Woodview Hindu Temple Hall
Contact Suja or Kovilan Muthumanikam on 083 742 8508 for more details

Manormani Dance Academy. A school of Bharatha Natyam and Folk Dance.
Saturday 9.00 – 12.00 at Umgeni Road Temple. 13.30 – 16.30 ABH – Chathsworth.
Monday 18.00 – 20.00 at Woodview Primary.
Tuesday 15-30 – 17.00 Stanmore Regional Hall.
Wednesday 17.30 – 19.00 Mount View Civic Hall.
For further details contact Mrs Govender on 031-5053379

For all travel arrangements in India. Email Indo South African Tours at insatours@gmail.com or envernathan@gmail.com

Chennai: Contact Envernathan Govender, 21 South Street, Radhanagar, Chromepet, Chennai 600044, India. Tel. 0091-44-22654243/22654396. Cell 0091-9841248652.
South Africa: Contact Mrs. K. Govender, 30 Eskdale Road, Sydenham, Durban, 4091. Tel. 031-2086929.
Mauritius: Contact Mr. Balakrishna Tandrayan, 8 Sun Yat Sen Street, Port Louis, Tel. 2423404. Fax. 2413299. (Sorry this is for people from Mauritius who want to travel to India)