THE DIARY OF Z

Just yesterday, I watched Ajay Devgan’s first directorial venture, U Me Aur Hum. Unlike many favourable media reports and the box office collections (”Average”), I was mighty disappointed. The first five minutes usually tell me if i would like the movie or pan it. This one didn’t tickle me at any point in its two-and-a-half-hour spiel. The movie lacked the emotional quotient that could have sent my tear glands into over drive.

The story is about a happy-go-lucky guy falling dropdead in love with a girl on a cruise and even marrying her. But later, his love is tested when she becomes a victim of memory failure - attributed to a medical condition called Alzheimer’s disease. The rest of the film is about how his love is unfailing. How he tries to keep her away from an asylum and how he finally gives in.

No wonder, no one really talks about Devgan’s directorial skills in the same breath as Aamir Khan or even closer to that. Why? Because the movie failed to sing and dance. It whimpered all the way and doesn’t even have 5% of the fire and passion displayed by Aamir’s Taare Zameen Par. The biggest failing of U Me Aur Hum is that it fails to connect. Can’t believe an actress like Kajol even accepted this film. It’s anything but engaging. Could have better served as a documentary. And again, only if it’s length was chopped by more than half.

True, the newly-released film Jannat, which has its premise on match fixing, could have been better. But then, it’s a love story with match fixing just as a backdrop. And as it is, the film is engaging enough. However, its Engage Quotient could have been several notches higher if it had uncovered several intricacies involving the plague affecting one and all… even now i feel many cricket matches are being regularly fixed for greater gain. How else can you explain a world-beating team like Australia fall for Kenya in the World Cup preliminaries? There’s definitely more to it than meets the eye. But what is even more evident is that match fixing is very much alive and well. Everytime i see an infallible team go down without much of a fight, i see the head of match fixing rearing its ugly head.

I feel IPL matches will soon go the same way. After all, it’s the age of ’show me the money’. And the age of ‘greed is good’. So soon enough, you will have matches of IPL being fixed, this time by corporate houses, to redefine the meaning of unpredictability in cricket. And we, hapless viewers, will lap it up without a raised finger. Why? Because it’s entertainment. Just the way the WWF and WWE matches are fixed.

The day won’t be far when players will play all the overs even if the winning score could have been reached in half the time. Why? Because they want to make cricket an ‘edge of the seat’ entertainer. Much like a racy Hollywood thriller. 

I haven’t watched a cricket match in its entirety for over 10 years now. After match fixing made its presence felt, i haven’t paid much attention to who is winning or losing. Sooner or later, i will know that this match was also fixed. So why be a ‘bakra’?

Visiting Mahabalipuram is like entering a time warp. It’s like hopping into a time machine and going back to the glorious regime of the 17^th century Pallava rulers. A place where art and culture thrived. An oasis where sculptors had the freedom to be. An era when art was venerated. An Utopia where time stood still for centuries.

How I landed up in this work-in-progress open-air museum is a story by itself. My journey started with what slows us all down – a traffic jam. The bus I had boarded to head to Mahabalipuram emerged out of the Chennai central bus stand and got stuck in a jam at Saidapet, before it could get out of the city. To make it worse, it started raining rhinos. The bus stood rooted at one stop for more than an hour. One middle-aged gentleman came and sat next to me in the bus. He was reading a book on nutrition. I was fascinated. Most people I have seen are happy solving crosswords or reading magazines and newspapers. But here was someone, who definitely didn’t look like a student, but was reading something more valuable in life.

I didn’t utter a word. Instead, I whipped out my Nikon and started clicking pictures of the rolling greens that passed me by. At one point in the journey, I turned to the man and asked him how much longer will it take to reach Mahabalipuram. “45 minutes,” he said, and went on to tell me something about the places I will run into before I reach my destination. About 14 kms before we could reach Mahabalipuram, we came across Crocodile Bank. My companion informed me that there are six species of crocodiles bred in captivity. About 5000 Indian and African crocodiles and alligators are kept in open pools and viewed from a safe distance. I let it pass, because I had seen a similar one outside Bangkok. Just four kms later, I passed by Dolphin City. Before I could ask my co-traveller, he said the highlight of this is the performance by an American Sea Lion (seal), which is the first of its kind in India. I said, what if the seal falls sick, and he said that there are two more as backups. Balancing a ball on its nose, diving in, diving out… the usual turns of a dolphin were on display at this theme park. I made it a point to get here the next time I am in this part of town. But the gentleman didn’t stop. He asked me if I had heard of a pyramid marketing company that made people rich all over the world without much effort. I don’t remember the name of the company, but all I know is that it’s not Amway, but has a revenue model that’s similar. My co-companion went on to say how the company’s founders are now billionaires, and how he’s trying to retrace their steps by becoming a direct marketer for their nutritious products.

So the nutrition book he was reading was actually a product brochure! I told him I was with Amway, but only for a few months before I realised the futility of being a pyramid marketer. Though marketing guys like him will tell you that you need only spend one hour every day to earn lakhs of rupees over time, it’s never like that. You have to drink, eat and sleep over it, all the time. And suddenly, you realise it’s more than a full-time job. I asked him, how much he makes from it. “My wife and I have only just begun, but are doing well already,” he said. “We make about Rs 3000 a month.” That sealed it for me, I didn’t take much heed to the gentleman next to me. I didn’t even give him my card when he asked for it. ‘I’ve exhausted my cards,’ I said, but he handed his card. I threw it away when I got down at Mahabalipuram.

The bus stand didn’t appear like one. There wasn’t any other bus except the one I took. I looked around, and found many blokes approaching me to ask if I needed a guide. When I didn’t even bother, and kept moving, they took the signal and immediately went behind a few foreigners who had got down from the same bus. I went straight to the flower vendor across the road. He was a boy who appeared about 15 years old. He was laconic: “Go straight, and then go left from there and then come back here and go left again. These are the only three places that you need to see.” I was shocked for a while. If this is all I have to see, then why do people even call it a tourist place? Later, my question was answered. It took me more than three hours to see these three places. And if I had no plans of reaching Pondicherry by the evening, I could have stayed on for another three hours atleast. So without further ado, I picked up a tour guide who could tell me more about the place.

Mahabalipuram is a rock climbers’ paradise. And most of all, it’s every sculptor’s mecca. The kind of rock-cut caves and temples you will see here date back to the Pallava dynasty of the 7^th century BC. It is believed to have been named after the Pallava king Mamalla (it’s actually known as Mamallapuram, but Mahabalipuram is more in circulation). The monuments are mostly rock-cut and monolithic (built out of one stone). From cave temples to monolithic rathas (chariots), sculpted reliefs and structural temples, it showcases Dravidian pillars and Pallava art through its sculptures. It is believed that this area served as a school for young sculptors. According to historians, the different sculptures, some half finished, may have been examples of different styles of architecture, probably demonstrated by instructors and practiced on by young students.

This can be seen in the pyramidal Pancha Rathas (five chariots) where each Ratha is sculpted in a different style. These are five pyramidal structures named after Draupadi and the Pandavas - Arjuna, Bhima, Yudhishtra, Nakula and Sahadeva. Despite their sizes, they are not assembled and are instead carved from one single large piece of stone. Awesome.

Largely describing events from the Mahabharata, watching Pancha Rathas took me an hour. Housed in a sandy compound and built like a pagoda, the rathas resemble Buddhist shrines and monasteries. I loved Draupadi’s ratha. Located at the entrance to the gate, it was spectacular and yet so simple. Shaped like a hut, it is dedicated to goddess Durga. Female door-keepers stand on either side of the Ratha, one holding a bow and another, a sword. At the eastern wall, a bas-relief shows Goddess Durga standing on the lotus with two worshippers offering flowers at her feet.

Elephant-shaped sculptures in the Nakul-Sahadev’s ratha are the highlights of the pancha rathas. They face the sea and are huge. Of all the rathas that are certified UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Yudhistir’s ratha is the largest. He was the eldest of the pandavas. One of the guides told me that this is a perfect example of the temples built in south India in later years. Most of the rathas are incomplete. Take this ratha - the ground floor is unfinished. The peculiarity? There are no stairs leading from the ground to the first floor, but there are stairs from the first to the second. What I loved was a carving on the first floor - a bearded ascetic holding a bell in his hands, a devotee with a tuft, holding a flower basket, a temple attendant with a bunch of keys, carrying an offering to god. The Ganesha Ratha is the only completed sculpture of the five rathas. Earlier dedicated to lord Shiva, it is now a shrine of Ganesha. Talk of one god replacing the other in his own territory.

The Pallavas did not stop with the Pancha rathas. They went on to build more sculptures. My guide informed me that four are found on the outskirts of Mahabalipuram. Two Pidari Rathas lie side by side on the way to Tirukkalakundram. To the south of these two rathas lies the Valayankuttai Rath and the fourth one lies opposite the Mahishasura Mardini Mandap. But it is nameless.

Apparently, the sculptures of Mahabalipuram are popular in countries like Britain, Germany, Denmark and Singapore. Images made of soapstone, handicrafts, wood carvings, sea-shell articles and jewelleries are sold here. What’s more, you can see sculptures in the making. Part of the reason why foreign tourists flock here is Tamil Nadu’s Department of Tourism conducting world famous dance festivals every Saturday, Sunday and on holidays during December and January. With Arjuna’s Penance (a rock bas-relief shaped like a giant) as the backdrop, the festival goes on for four weeks. Dancers from across India come here to display their choreographed moves. Besides, there are classical renditions, tribal dances and puppet shows for the general audience.

The other marvels in and around Mamallapuram include the Trimurti cave, Kodikkal Mandapam, a replica of Arjuna’s Penance, Ramanuja Mandapam, Adivaraha Temple, Koneri cave, Pancha Pandava Mandapam and Sthalasayana Perumal temple. What really fascinated me most was the hill slope near the Ganesha Ratha that held on its expansive chest, a huge boulder. Known as Krishna’s Butter Ball, the Pallava kings tried to move the boulder with elephants but were unsuccessful. Quite unbelievable, because it’s located just at the point where the mountain slopes. A marvel all the way. And I found an old woman selling mangoes. From far, she looked much smaller than the boulder which formed her background. A Kodak moment all the way.

Apart from the rathas, there are 14 such important constructions in and around Mamallapuram (that’s the official name). The beauty of it is not only due to its architecture but also for its casuarinas trees, the silvery sandy beach and the classical hand-made crafts that form a collective splendour. To add to the charm are many places around this sculptor’s paradise that have become part of my must-visit list the next time I am here. Most prominent among them include the Cholamandal Artist’s Village, Dakshina Chitra, Muthukadu, Crocodile and Snake Park, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Kovalam (the Olive Ridley Turtles come here between November and March to hatch their eggs), Mudaliarkuppam, Thirukkalukundram, Tirupporur, Vandalur and Vedanthangal. Apparently, in Thirukkalukundram, 16 km away from Mahabalipuram, there is a 160 metre hill with a small Vedagirishvara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The priest in the temple feeds a pair of white eagles, which are said to be saints. The eagles on their way from Varanasi and Rameswaram, nest in this hill temple at a particular time in the afternoon when no other eagles or birds attend.

There are also many great temples around Mamallapuram. Though, I didn’t have the time to see them, I remember my guide mentioning the Kailasanathar temple that boasts of a 16-sided Shiva lingam in black granite stone. And then he mentioned the Ekambaranathar temple that boasts of 1000 lingas carved out of a single stone. He said that there’s also a mango tree over 3,500 years old. It bears four branches representing the Four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana) and the fruits from these branches have four different tastes.

All along, it was raining intermittently. I would go into a cave and stay there until the rain stopped. The guide would take this opportunity to regale me with his stories. When he said there is a ruined Dutch fort and a Dutch cemetery carved with headstones and Ditch inscriptions, I felt like going all the way there, but then it began to rain incessantly. And then, it started to rain heavily and I had to abandon all plans of visiting any place around Mahabalipuram. But there was still one place I hadn’t visited: the seashore temple. Though it was only a kilometre away, the rain prevented me from taking the road by myself. So we hired an auto for Rs 50 and went up there. My guide launched into his story-telling session even before we reached the temple. Apparently, there were seven temples known as the seven pagodas. But the lonely survivor is the shore temple. It was originally constructed during the 7th century and is one of the oldest temples in south India. This shore temple has gained popularity and tourists flock here because it is listed among the world heritage sites by UNESCO. The central shrine is in the form of a rectangle. It has a magnificent statue of lord Vishnu which is known as Sthala Shayana Perumal or Ananthasayana which means sleeping Vishnu. The peculiarity about this particular temple is that Vishnu sits on the floor to listen to the sounds of names. The figure of Vishnu is found in segments which are to be looked through various doors.

The grand temple is surrounded by mandapas and compound walls. There is a rock-cut of two young women riding a lion. The lion has a small, square shaped cut in its belly. Apparently, a huge rock near the temple has been the target of waves since the ancient times. There is also a carving of a buffalo demon running with a stick in his hand, located on the northern side. My guide informed me that the temple looks lovely when the lights come on weekends when the sun goes into hiding. But I was unlucky. I had come on a weekend allright, but I was leaving by 3pm to be on time in Pondicherry where I had booked a room.

Mamallapuram is best known for Krishna Mandapam, the biggest among the mandapams. Dedicated to Lord Krishna, the sculptures picturise his brave and energetic adulthood. As a kid, he lifted the Govardhana mountain so both the people and cattle could be saved from the rains precipitated by Lord Indra. Being the god of rain, the shepherd community used to thank Indra once a year for his blessings. When Krishna asked them to stop the practise, an angry Indra ordered the rain clouds to pour heavily and destroy all the animals. When Krishna heard of it, he lifted an entire mountain with his little finger to save them. The downpour lasted seven days. Finally, Indra realised his mistake and withdrew the clouds.

What stopped me dead in my tracks was when my guide told me about how the place got its name. Apparently, during the rule of a mean and cruel king Mahabali, Lord Vishnu killed him in battle. The result strangely was that the place was named after the dead, arrogant Mahabali. Later, the name was changed to Mamallapuram because then king Narasimha Varman I was given the title of ‘Mamalla’ meaning ‘the great wrestler’ for his feats in the arena. Ironically, it’s still known by its old name.

Old is gold, I guess. Though, the person it’s named after isn’t.

STRAIGHT FACTS

Area: 8 sq. km.

Altitude: Sea level

Population: 12,000

Climate: Summer - Max. 36.6°C, Min 21.1°C; Winter - Max. 30.5°C, Min 19.8°C

Rainfall: 32.5 cm average

Clothing: Tropical

Languages spoken: Tamil and English

Tourist season: Through the year

The united colours of Pondicherry. Where foreigners and Indians live in harmony. Where French architecture is as appealing as Indian. Where nothing appears to stress a tourist, the least being the weather. Even if it rains without warning, you don’t mind because of the humidity and the beach next door. It’s a place where you feel cut off from India and yet feel part of it. It’s this feeling of attachment and detachment that keeps you company long after you’ve left the shores of Pondicherry.

I stumbled upon this erstwhile French settlement quite by chance. When I visited Chennai on business, my journalist friend said, “Pondy is just two hours away. I can even book a sea-facing hotel room for you and get one of the journalists to double up as your guide.” These words egged me on to a road never travelled. And I went with the flow.

Now I have never been to France. But I am familiar with the territory because of the innumerable travel channels being beamed into my drawing room. What grabbed me first was Pondy’s size – it had only a 20 km radius. Which means, I could cycle my way to the heart and periphery of the city without developing a leg cramp. But ofcourse, when I rented the bicycle, I realised that the seat more befitted a lady than a gent. So I went back and changed it for a cycle that had a bigger, better seat. And I was on.

The first thing I noticed in Pondicherry (which was re-named to ‘Puducherry’ in 2006 and means ‘New village’) are the narrow, tiled perpendicular streets. So like Gay Paree. My journo guide explained that the city is divided into two sections, the French Quarter and the Indian quarter. I was staying at the French quarter. Which is why, I saw many streets still retaining their French names and French-style villas. The buildings are typically colonial style with long compounds and stately walls in yellows, reds and greens. The Indian (Tamil) quarter has houses with verandas, large doors and grills. Both the French and Indian-style houses are protected by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). If you were to demolish any of these heritage buildings, you need to take the permission from INTACH and ensure that the new house resembles the old world architecture. Since most people here don’t have money to burn, they stick to the old structure.

Pondy is said to have a network of all-weather metalled roads connecting every village in its territory. Now I was testimony to that. Quizzers will tell you that this union territory has a road length of 2552 km (road length for every 4.87 km radius), which is the highest in the country. The accessibility and comfortable infrastructure aside, it’s the cosmopolitan nature of the city that makes it all the more inviting. Where else have you seen Indians and foreigners converging at a park and dining out from the same restaurant in a non-trendy place? It is this feature that makes it so unique. You don’t feel like a foreigner and neither does the foreigner who is visiting the city for the first time. You feel a sense of bonhomie and this remained with me long after I had left Pondicherry.

This feeling is renewed when I drive my way to Auroville. The concept dazzled me. Where else in the world have you heard or found a place where you are known more as a human than as an Indian, American or French? Over here, your nationality is humanity. And human unity is the mantra being propagated at Auroville. It is a unique experiment in building a self-supporting city within a city that will eventually be home to 50,000 people from different nationalities of the world. Already, about 1,700 co-exist in this area that is insulated from rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Auroville is recognised as the first and only UNESCO-endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity. It intends to transform our consciousness and build a sustainable living model by taking care of your future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs. And how? Well, by having dedicated areas for ‘green’ industries (109 hectares), residential accommodation, cultural events and international seminars. What’s more, the city area with a radius of 1.25 km will be surrounded by a green belt of 1.25 km width. As a zone for organic farms, dairies, orchards, forests, and wildlife areas, this belt will act as a barrier against urban encroachment. Not just that. It will also provide a variety of habitats for wildlife, and serve as a source for food, timber and medicines, and as a place for recreation. Walking through Auroville is truly revealing. It stands as a shining example of successful transformation of a wasteland into a vibrant eco-system.

The video film at Auroville’s visitor’s gallery showcased a fascinating story. On 28th February 1968, some 5,000 people from 124 countries gathered near the banyan tree at the centre of Auroville. Every country’s representative brought with him some soil from his homeland, to be mixed in a white marble- clad, lotus-shaped urn, now sited at the focal point of the Amphitheatre. A symbolic gesture that has unity in diversity written all over it.

Next to this urn are the Matrimandir and its gardens that also serve as a groundwater recharge area. Inside this golden globe, still under construction, is a great empty hall, except for one vertical light ray striking a translucent crystal globe at its centre. It’s meant to be a 12-sided inner hall for concentrating on our sub-conscious and taking it to a new level of consciousness. When completed, the hall will be 24 metres in diameter, with 12 sides of white marble and a floor covered with a soft white carpet. Through an optical lens fitted into the roof, the sunlight will fall in a direct ray to strike the globe at its exact centre. When there is no sun, electric reflectors will send a ray – also a concentrated, not a diffused light – exactly on the centre of the crystal globe to provide an uninterrupted presence of the vertical ray. As their brochure puts it: “Matrimandir is a receptacle in which to receive the Supramental consciousness-force. The Truth-consciousness.” If all this goes over head, don’t worry. It went over mine, too. But I loved the concept, nevertheless.

Back from Auroville, I visit the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (where photography isn’t allowed) which plays host to a library that has books on meditation and integral living. On the way back to the guest house, my journalist-cum-guide suggested that if I marry someone living in Pondy, I could well become a citizen of France by default. I laughed at it but did take him on his other suggestion: to visit Paradise Island at the Chunnambar Boat Club the next day. And was I mighty pleased? Yes, ofcourse because I was facing Bay of Bengal’s crystal clear waters that I have seen in Thailand’s western beaches: Krabi, Phuket and Phi Phi. As soon as I enter after paying a nominal fee, I am ushered into a playground of sorts. There are swings and slides for children and even a treetop wooden house for good measure. And soon, I find myself right opposite the Bay of Bengal. We take a boat to the island and find the island virginal. There aren’t too many people crowding the place. There is cleanliness and adequate security personnel manning the area. You can sit underneath a wooden canopy, or you can play on the swings closer to the shore. Or you can watch children making sand castles. Or couples gossiping about everything under the sun. Sitting under the wooden canopy, I took time off to spend with myself, even while watching others in action. In this ‘alone time’, I felt one with the sea and felt much tranquillity watching the tides go from high to low.

On our way back, my friend had a good laugh at my expense by saying, “Since you don’t drink, you enjoy Pondy much less because over here, the taxes are the lowest and liquor comes cheap.” Back in the city, he said something else that made me wonder again. “People here are so lazy that they prefer to use a two-wheeler even if it is to travel less than half a kilometre.” And here I was, walking all around the Beach Road every other day.

This French quarter of the city also happens to be most frequented by visitors. After all, it directly faces the fabulous Bay of Bengal which looks slightly more forbidding than the sharp, rocky crevasses filled with garbage that mark the stone and sand filled man-made foreshore and ‘beach’. The foreshore is a wonderful public space which is always filled with locals at sunset and is lined with magnificent colonial hotel-mansions and restaurants. The first four or so streets running parallel to the beach are filled with French villas, old houses and grandiose European churches beyond which lies the canal (now dry like camphor) and further on the Indian quarter. The inner city is quiet, small, calm, and a combination of the two cultures present. Pondy is a place where French is more widely spoken than English. Where breakfast menus list Baguettes instead of Toast and restaurants don’t fill up until 9pm. And where coffee tastes less like boiled charcoal than usual and where the waiters look at you strangely when you order a spread of four different curry dishes instead of the chef’s specialty.

Though the botanical garden is in a neglected state, you would love to do one thing: take a ride in the toy train. Once, that’s done, I would urge you to venture into Bharathi Park off the Beach Road, particularly in the evening. It’s a fair-like atmosphere out here. Large wind chimes tied to trees make it a euphonious experience. There’s the colourful musical fountain that comes to life soon after sundown and lets you trip on Tamil film songs for a change. The park has both Indians and foreigners soaking in the ambience. You could lie on the grass and watch kids play – I watched an Indian slum kid playing with a foreign kid. They were sitting on either side of the see-saw. A perfect picture of co-existence and racial harmony. Another kid was dancing to the song being played at the musical fountain. While her father was encouraging her, the mother appeared to be embarrassed. The girl was joined by a boy her age. But she did a better job.

No wonder the French were not willing to leave this prized territory. Even when they left, they had some strings attached that are operational till this day. According to the Treaty of Cession signed by India and France on 28 May 1956, French will continue to remain the official language of Pondicherry. Pondicherry still has a large number of Tamil and a small number of non-Tamil residents with French passports. These are descendants of those who chose to remain French when the then ruling French Establishment presented the people of Puducherry with an option to either remain French or become Indians at the time of Puducherry’s transfer to India in 1954.

There are three things I missed seeing for lack of time: the Navagraha Temple which houses 15 ft high Navagrahas (structures carved out of stone), the Anglo-French textile mill and the fossil museum located on the city outskirts. But I will check them out the next time I visit Pondy.

WHERE TO STAY

You could stay at any of the guest houses and hotel rooms in the area. They charge anywhere between Rs 200 to Rs 1000 per day. The ones run by the Aurobindo ashram are cheaper, but you need to book well in advance. Nothing like knowing a local resident in the city who could do it for you.

SEASONS

Pondicherry is rain-and-shine throughout the year. Expect sudden showers anytime.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

The winter months of November, December, January and February. But for beach bums, anytime is a good time here.

FUN FACTS

Ø Pondicherry was the setting for the first third of the Booker prize-winning novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

Ø Lee Langley’s novel ‘A house in Pondicherry’ was likewise set there.

Ø In Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Prince Pondicherry has Willy Wonka build him a castle made entirely of chocolate, which quickly melts.

Ø In The second Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the family of a murder victim resides at Pondicherry Lodge.

Ø Pondicherry was the residence of one of India’s most renowned Freedom Fighter and Spiritualist, Sri Aurobindo.

Ø Pondicherry is also known as The French Riviera of the East.

Ø The History of Pondicherry can be traced back to the 2nd century AD. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, of the early 2nd Century, AD, mentions a marketplace named Poduke, which could possibly be Arikamedu, about 2 miles from the modern Pondicherry. Archaeological excavations showed that Pondy was a trading station to which goods of Roman manufacture were imported during the first half of the 1st century AD.

Ø Pondicherry, as it is now, was first set up as a trading port in 1674 by the French and eventually grew to be the principal settlement of the French colonialists on the subcontinent. The French East India Company tried to grab hold of India only to be comprehensively outdone by the English (and then by the Indians).

Ø A patented windmill was designed and built in Auroville and is now being used to pull water from wells.

Ø Most guest houses and hotels, particularly those run by the Aurobindo Ashram, have a 10.30pm curfew. Since there is no such thing as nightlife in Pondicherry, you tend to sleep early.

Ø Around Auroville, there are thousands of residents living an eco-friendly lifestyle: running massage schools, yoga, tai chi, capoeira, or meditation classes, producing handicrafts, and doing a myriad other things that ought to be done more often.

(This piece appeared in Windows & Aisles, the inflight magazine of Paramount Airways)

Here’s one joke that i found particularly interesting.

An old man gets into an accident and is rendered blind. When a doctor at his own specialist eye clinic offers to help, he readily agrees but on one condition. That he pay him Rs 1 lakh. The old man agrees but on one condition: he will pay the full amount if cured and nothing if he isn’t cured. The doctor visit the old man every day and takes back one piece of his expensive furniture everytime.

The old man is delayed the treatment because the doctor needed a reason to come to his house and take away another piece of furniture. Finally, after many visits, the old man is finally cured and the doctor demands his fees. But the old man refuses to pay saying the cure isn’t complete. The doctor takes the matter to the court. The judge asks why the old man isn’t willing to pay. The old man says that he cannot see all his furniture at home. The judge hands in the verdict in the old man’s favour and the doctor is left twiddling his thumbs.

Hackers love people who surf the Internet without realising the pitfalls that go with it. This is particularly true of those who are ready to click on any unlicenced software or unsolicited email, so long as they are getting some information or application for free. Before long, their computer could come under attack from hackers anywhere in the globe. However, if you follow these simply hints, you should be largely free of hackers and the things they do.

Say ‘no’ to porn

A moment’s pleasure could lead to hours and even days of pain. We are talking about accessing porn sites. Not only are these most commercial, they are also the prime target of hackers. There are those who replicate the exact look and feel of a website, but with a slightly different URL. You might mistakenly enter your credit card number and poof, all your bank balance could vanish with it. Another fallout of visiting a porn site is the way your email gets circulated to all and sundry and soon enough, your inbox will be full of trash mail. But the worst possibility is opening your computer up to viruses and worms that could invade your system and divulge sensitive information to a stranger sitting somewhere in cyberspace.

Emails from banks

Be aware of this common scam that is still conning several people into revealing their bank user IDs and passwords. The thing is, these so-called emails from banks look like they came from your bank, Ebay or Paypal. They will say something to the effect of your account needing urgent attention. They ask you to “click here” to log in and deal with the problem. Just remember that banking regulations prohibit banks from asking you to either reveal your bank number of your password. If the email is a fake, clicking on that link will take you to a page which looks like the real thing, but is actually a fake page which is designed to get your account login information. The best way to deal with these emails is to ignore them. And if you think, it’s real, it is still best to NOT click on the link given in the mail. You would rather key in the URL of the bank yourself and log in. The only difference you could find between a fake and genuine URL is the absence of an ‘s’. Eg: https://paypal is a real website, where http://paypal isn’t. ‘S’ stands for ‘secure’.

Online cards

This is easily one of the most vulnerable of the lot. Your friend might unwittingly send you an online greeting card not realising that it could turn out to be a spy software. The way out? Avoid any online greeting card which asks you install some “special” software to your computer before you are able to open the card your friend has sent. According to estimates, 90% of cases such as these are spyware applications. Some of these launch random popup ads when you are just about to open your word or excel files.

Firewall yourself

It’s best not to access the Internet directly through a modem. This allows hackers access to your system if they figure out your exact location. The best way is to use a router or a software or hardware-based firewall to guard your system from being accessed by unwanted elements in cyberspace. This becomes absolutely necessary if your computer is always on and always connected to the Internet.

Wireless security

With multiple computers at home, there are many of us who use wireless Internet. However, it’s important to secure local area network. Because if you do not, anyone can access your computer within that wireless network from outside your home. Some ISPs like Verizon’s FIOS service supply routers equipped with wireless security. And if you buy a wireless router, ensure you’ve also got yourself wireless security. Don’t operate your system unless you’ve got this on board.

Stay away from freewares and sharewares

Most sharewares and freewares have spyware embedded within them. Therefore, before installing any, it’s best to Google about the application you want to install, and see if people are complaining about adware and stuff of that nature. Kazaa is a file-sharing application. But did you know that it inundates your computer with adware once you install it? Well, there are many lesser-known ones that do that. Therefore, avoid it. And when in doubt, google.

Junk mail

There are several junk mails inundating your inbox. While some of it goes directly to your trash can, the others that make it past your email sensor might not be as innocent. In fact, it helps if you label it spam, so your email service provider identifies and dumps it in the trash can the next time this address sends you an email. But, never, and I repeat never, reply to these spam mails asking them to remove your name from their mailing list. This will not only tell them that this is a genuine ID, it will lead to many more spam mails from different email IDs. One example of a genuine email ID is where the sender clearly mentions a physical address in the email.

Forms in emails

Yes, sometimes it can get weirder. There have been cases where people have been asked to fill in surveys, information and stuff about themselves and their interests within the email itself. Now you have no idea how this email data will be used. Some have even received emails asking them for their PIN number. Therefore, desist from filling out forms in emails. Better to be safe than sorry later.

Warez sites

Much like porn sites, warez sites are as bad. The owners of these sites usually have no sense of ethics and you’re more likely to encounter PC infections on such sites. Warez software is unlicensed software. If you are one of those who find and install paid software for free by finding cracked software and installing it, it’s not without danger. To begin with, it’s illegal and could lead to stiff imposition of fines and even a jail term. But the worse part is that could make your system prone to computer viruses.

So the watchword is to stay away from the bad guys – questionable sites, unsolicited email, freeware, shareware, among others – and you will be a lot better protected from hackers and Internet scams.

There’s more to digital photography than the megapixels of your camera. Many of us go around clicking pictures without realizing that there are different file formats to suit different needs. Most SLR and DLSR cameras offer three file formats—JPEG, TIFF and RAW. Let’s take a look at the relative advantages and disadvantages of each.
JPEG
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is an ISO/ITU standard format for compressing still images. The most popular and visible of the three formats, it is essentially good to reduce image sizes to make them more handy and convenient.
Advantages
It is simple and versatile, and is supported by all kinds of imaging software. The best part is that you can minimize the negligible quality loss by specifying the amount of compression. You can set it to high quality if you are printing a high-resolution photograph. You could lower the quality level, upload the image on the Internet, or compress it even further to send it in an email.
Disadvantages
It compresses a larger image to a much smaller size, but this results in loss of quality. This is because the JPEG format looks at the image and removes only the information that it can recreate by looking at neighbouring pixels when the image is displayed again.
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format, or TIFF, is ideal for high resolution printing and page layouts. TIFF compresses the image in such a way that you can restore the original one when needed.
Advantages
This file format is most popular with media houses and photographers who would want to compress the file and yet be able to restore the original as and when required. To work with photos, use a loss-less format such as TIFF or the RAW format of your editing software.
Disadvantage
It consumes a lot of memory space. It means that your camera memory or hard disk drive can fill up much faster than JPEG pictures.
RAW
RAW file format allows you to save your pictures in their original form, minus colour adjustments, white balance or sharpening. The images are stored exactly the way the camera “sees” it.
Advantages
It’s a great tool for photographers who have a lot of storage space and want to have a backup of the original, unedited images.
There is no processing done by the camera before the image is saved. This is one of the major advantages of RAW because today’s digital cameras can detect more than 256 levels of strength. But since the TIFF and JPEG formats don’t allow more than that number, the camera throws away that extra information. The RAW format saves these extra strength levels, giving you a better image and more contrast levels. And then, you have complete control in manipulating the image any Photoshop or Paint program. Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop Elements 4 or 5 are great for processing RAW images. Adobe’s Lightroom is one way of achieving near-natural photos. There is complete flexibility and control over your images, especially once you figure out how to use the curves tool in Photoshop/Lightroom. It’s best to edit on a raw image as there is no quality loss.
Disadvantages
It takes a little longer to record the picture on the camera’s media, but when the time comes to process it, you’ll find it worth the wait. After all, RAW format gives you the ability to change white-balance, hues, contrasting colours, highlights and everything else.
If you are shooting in fast-shooting mode, say ice skating or rally racing, use the JPEG mode, because the time the RAW format takes to record could cost you a good shot. RAW takes a longer time to store and copy. As there is no single RAW standard for all cameras, you would need to use your camera manufacturer’s software to read the RAW file.
The difference
If you have large storage space and don’t mind the additional time loss due to storing and copying, TIFF and RAW images are ideal. Also, if you want to enlarge your pictures, TIFF and RAW score all the way.
But, if you don’t really have a high-end camera, and don’t need to print large images, you can do without TIFF and RAW. The JPEG format should do the trick for you as it saves a much smaller image size with negligible quality loss. The best way to go about using it is to set it to high image quality (that’s “12” on the quality radar), and you should do well.

(This piece appeared in Mint)