Despite the onslaught of fancy brooms with different types of fibres, the natural coconut leaf stalk brooms continue to be in use in many households for specific applications.
This woman was selling brooms made out of coconut leaf stalks on a Sunday morning in Otteri.
Besides brooms the stick has multiple uses. Can you name some interesting uses?
Tea or milk by the yard is another common sight in the tea stalls around the country.
Captured in Otteri, Strahan Road.
With so much plastic and paper in the garbage indiscriminately discarded, I would not be surprised if this hungry cow swallows some of the plastic!
Spotted on Strahans Road near Mahalakshmi talkies.
He was spotted in Purasawalkam on a Sunday morning. He had big, bright but expressionless eyes. He was indifferent to being photographed.
Location: Sundaram Lane, Purasaiwakkam. 13.086028, 80.253647
Walking around the Parthasarathy temple tank in Triplicane, I was attracted by an old building with an emblem of Gandhi (the real one!) with his signature walking stick and the caption ‘Mahatmaji Seva Sangam’. A quick search on the web gave the background and history of this sangam.
Grieved by the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Kothainayaki, a nationalist, Gandhian, and author started this sangam in 1948 to propagate the ideals of Gandhiji especially among women. She bought this building for the Sangam by borrowing from various sources.
It was inaugurated by Rajaji, and the first president was C.Saraswathi Bai, the famous harikatha exponent. It held various classes and cultural programs for women and it helped bring out more conservative women into the national mainstream.
Kothainayaki was able to repay the loans taken for buying the building by her hard work and by ‘the grace of Perumaal’.
For more information: http://www.thehindu.com/2001/10/01/stories/13010782.htm
North Tank Square Street, Triplicane.
While good luck charms and ‘kan drishti’ (wrath of the evil eye) protectors are very common, this shopkeeper seems to have gone overboard. He has a horseshoe for luck, Vinayaka for divine blessings, lemon and seven green chillies, alum on a black rope and sanctified ribbons for extra protection. Not leaving anything to chance.
These are no six-foot bunches, but somehow they with the lungi-clad man with anxious fingers reminded me of the popular Jamaican Banana Boat Song (Day-O…. Come Mr Tally man, tally me banana) immortalised by the legendary Harry Belafonte during my college days.
For those who like a taste of nostalgia of the 50’s here are links to the song:
The song on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tou8-Cz8is
The lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/harrybelafonte/dayothebananaboatsong.html
Enjoy.
Royal Enfield’s Bullet was a prestigious brand when the choice of motorbikes was limited – Jawa, Rajdoot, RE’s own 150 cc (Prince?).Enfield also broadened their range with a self-start scooter, Fantabulous and a mini moped, MOFA. Both failed, probably because they were ahead of their times and based on unproven technology.
The company was taken over by the Eicher group and I am glad to see the brand now revived and having a cult following.
The above beast was spotted at Pallavaram. I understand that now they have a 500 cc machine, besides the ever popular, 350 cc.
During a trip to Himachal Pradesh with my IIMA group, I was happy to see a group of 8 or 10 Australians, including some women, doing a Himachal tour on Indian Bullets. We bumped into them at Dalhousie and MacLeodganj.
Will the divine appeal work? Nobody knows. In many other places, they don’t seem to work.
By the way, why has the appeal left out icon of another dominant religion? Fear of blasphemy?
Swachch Bharat:Swarg Bharat!
Madras Nalla Madras. A photo blog on Madras, that is Chennai 