chennai diaries

 Seventy: I am looking forward to my birthday on Monday 20th December. The good book refers to the average age of a man to be 3 score and 10. Happy to make the average and then hope to surpass it.  Tourism: Really sad that a friend of mine from Illovo who had planned to come to India for a pilgrimage culminating with a 10 day stay in Palani for the Thaipoosam kavady had to postpone his trip till next year. This is the result of the Omicron variant and the restriction of travel and visas from SA. Hopefully we will see the end of this soon. So far, we have had one confirmed case in Tamilnadu of a person with this variant who had arrived from Nigeria. His family who travelled with him had been isolated and are under observation. …

 Mahesh: Please subscribe, view and share Mahesh’s YouTube channel Feral Nomad Diaries  Tourism: The Civil Aviation authorities who postponed the resumption of normal flights because the Omicron variant has now decided to continue the ban till January 31st. Hopefully these flights will resume on February 1st. However, flights to 32 countries including SA under the air bubble agreement will continue. If you are arriving from SA, be warned that you will have to take the RT-PCR test on arrival. Rules are changing rapidly but at present passengers will have to undergo a 7-day home quarantine. Please check with your travel agent for the latest rules.  Condolences. We are really sad to hear of the passing away of veteran Tamil cultural leader Mr Balan Govender. Uncle Balan was the president of the MTSS organisation for many years and also held positions …

 Please subscribe, view and share Mahesh’s YouTube channel Feral Nomad Diaries  Follow Chennai Newsletter on Facebook and sign up for their excellent newsletter on whatsappChennai Newsletter or send me a message on +91 98412 48652 stating their name.Follow this link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Fk3Z4ISMfhGEkDH7uqDPyh Also read: Chennai News 19 November Visaranai: This movie actually was released in 2015 but I did not watch it as I thought it was all about violence. However, after watching the movie Jai Bhim and the many references to it, I watched it on Netflix. I have to confess that I was stunned by the riveting story. Although not the same storyline as Jai Bhim it does share the atrocities of the police on innocent helpless victims. However, this film goes even further and shows how the police top brass and politicians will go to any lengths to …

 Please subscribe, view and share Mahesh’s YouTube channel Feral Nomad Diaries  Rain in Chennai: With over 50% excess rains in Chennai and release of water from a few neighbouring dams some parts of the city became water-logged. Chennai’s woes is partially due to many areas of the city being developed on ancient water bodies. We do know that water will find its natural path. Compounded to this is that Chennai is very flat and almost at sea level thus making water flowing into the sea not so easy. Added to this are many unauthorised buildings situated at places blocking the flow of water into the rivers. Hopefully the ones in power will be able to correct some of these problems soon. In the rest of Tamilnadu crops in about 150,000 acres have been damaged. As I write this the sun …

Deepavali/Kartigai: Thank you to all of you who have responded to the Deepavali Special on November 4th. Some of you have said that you celebrate Karthigai Deepam instead. So, we will be doing a Karthigai Deepam Special on Friday November 19th. Please contact me if you would like to send a special message from you personally or from your company for either or both of these festivals.  The Tamilnadu Government has started a Illam Thedi Kalvi (Education at doorstep) scheme which would pave the way for holistic development of children. The aim of the scheme is addressing the learning gap that has arisen among students due to the lockdown. Volunteers would take classes for up to two hours a day. The government hopes to associate teachers, parents, retired teachers and members of voluntary organisations in implementing the scheme. Almost 100,000 …

Air India: In what can be likened to a fairy tale ending the Air India airlines has been sold to the Tata group who presented the highest bid. The airline was founded by JRD Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932; Tata himself flew its first single-engine plane carrying mail from Karachi to Madras via Bombay. After World War II, it became a public limited company and was renamed Air India and was then subsequently taken over by the government. After a glorious start it slowly started to lose lots of money and billions was pumped in by the government. Doesn’t this sound familiar. Its bloated number of staff and many perks contributing in a big way to its losses. Hopefully with the Tata takeover Air India can once more rule the skies. Air India had formerly merged with Indian Airlines …

 I will be doing a Deepavali special on November 4th. Please contact me if you would like to send a special message from you personally or from your company.  Festivals: Yesterday October 14th was a public holiday for Ayudha Pooja. This festival highlights the blessing that workers will give to the tools of their trade. For example, an auto driver will decorate and bless his auto. It is one of the most popular festivals here but somehow to my knowledge this did not come across the Indian ocean to SA.  Today 15th is Vijayadasami when parents initiate their children into various learnings like academics, writing, music, dance, sports and arts. Many young children will be taught to write the Tamil alphabets today. In the past many parents will enrol their children in schools on this day.  Tirupathi: Since India is …

 Feral Nomad Diaries: Mahesh is now in Florence Italy. He has documented his visit to Paris and travel to Italy in a vlog on YouTube using his GoPro. You can watch it on https://youtu.be/ryrFq3_9Cb8. Please subscribe to his channel.  Tourism: Just heard last night that tourists visas will be issued to all from November 15 and to those coming on chartered flights on October 15. However, for South Africans coming on regular flights as tourists it is November 15th. I will let you know later about conditions of travel like vaccinations as soon as I get that information. For those of you who have been telling me for the last 18 months that you are missing India here is your chance to visit. Hopefully the airlines will now be running more flights. Please contact me on insatours@gmail.com for all your …

Wishing all of you who are fasting a bountiful month of sumptuous vegetarian cuisine. I hope you are all safe. I am really sad that so many friends and relatives have passed away in the last few months. I see that SA is now on level two so hopefully that means that the situation is improving.Please feel free to write to me about what is happening in your part of the world. I believe that I have a reader in Antwerp. I would like to get in touch with him. Thank you Vishnu for your advert. I hope that many of our readers will contact you.I have been asked by a few people to source out some murthies for their temples. For the purposes of shipping and bringing that cost down it will be better if I can consolidate the shipment. So if anyone …

 Tomorrow marks 20 years since the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers and other sites in the US. I can still remember coming home casually putting on the TV and watching those shocking & unbelievable visuals. I was so confused that I thought it was aliens invading earth as I just could not imagine someone attacking the heart of New York in broad daylight. Many heads rolled since then, not all guilty of crimes. I still maintain that the hard-line policy to freedom fighters (regarded as terrorists by them) around the world by the US after 9/11 resulted the defeat of the LTTE in Srilanka.  Today is Vinayaka Chaturthi here and around the world including SA. Celebrations are a bit muted this year as the Tamilnadu government has banned all public celebrations and processions and asked people to observe it …