Keep Green. Keep Clean.

When I visited my hometown (nearly 350 Kms from Chennai), myself and my wife went out for an evening walk on the banks of river Cauvery.   We saw a guy selling Pani poori (a famous snack from the northern part of India).  We were quite impressed by the banner that he put near his roadside shop.

We had a samosa channa, another snack which is a combination of chick peas and samosa.  It was not bad and the level of hygiene was decent enough.  He makes it hot and spicy on the spot and serves in a “use and throw” plate.  In summary, what the banner said is, “Keep the place clean by throwing the used plates in the dust bin.  Do not litter” and strangely it was polite enough!

He sets up his shop in the evening and serves hot snacks.  He carries a commercial gas cylinder with him to heat and serve the food.  All said and done, he has his own problems staying in business and he said operational costs are high!!  Are we not talking the same thing in our daily corporate lives?  But I would appreciate his consciousness to have a litter free zone around him.  The whole world will be a better place if everyone of us think of keeping our surroundings clean.

Litter free or free litter…. it is up to you!

P.S: If you want to know about the dishes I have mentioned here.  Please go to google and find it out yourself.

Ranganathan Street

A Colombian asked me what is the difference between Bogota and Chennai.  I was tempted to elaborate on that (ofcourse good and bad!).  But the main difference I told him was the weather and then the population.  Size of Chennai is nearly the same as Bogota, but the population is twice as much!

I told him, wherever you go you will see people... people... people...  There will be a lengthy queue for everything and anything.  Just to make him understand, I wanted to show the picture of our Ranganathan street in Chennai.  I would say it is a shopper's paradise.  You get everything that you need (The same goods sometimes at a low price, sometimes at a higher price!!).

The problem is, it is difficult to get into the street and come out unscathed.  Once you get in, you do not need to make an effort to walk, you will be pushed by the people around you and when you find the shop you want to get in, you can push yourself towards it.  But start doing it a few yards before the shop otherwise you may get into the next shop.

Especially during festive seasons, it is too much crowded.  If it rains and after you get out of Ranganathan street, you would like to cut your legs than to clean it!

It may sound exaggerating, but it is *almost* true.  If you take a daylight picture of Ranganathan street from top, you will find it pitch black in colour because you will see only heads... heads... heads...  If you drop something from top, it does not reach the ground.  Just take a look at the picture below to believe it.

 

Photo Courtesy: Google Images

The Rambla

I have submitted my Visa at the consulate of Colombia in Uruguay. The visa department person is on holiday today and I hope to get my visa tomorrow.

We visited the Rambla over the weekend we spent in Montevideo, Uruguay.  It was very good and we had a very long walk on the Rambla.  Rambla is nothing but the shore that runs all along Montevideo.  Especially the evening view was very good.

But to my surprise nearly all houses were painted gray, the city was not so clean and the whole of Saturday and Sunday everybody does barbeque in their lawn or in their terrace.  So we could smell smoke in the air. 

The people in Uruguay eat a lot of meat and it is difficult to get vegetarian food.  My colleagues took me to some restaurants where you can get vegetarian food like pasta, pizza and rice. They export all their good meat and import meat from Brazil.