I Wander

the world as I see it…

Archive for July 24th, 2009

Party report

Jul 24

Posted by kosh in usual | 4 Comments

Last night was my first official night out in the Chennai. I met up with a few friends and headed over to ‘Dublin’ at the Park Sheraton in Chennai. Now, before we headed down to Dublin, we stopped at this TOI ‘party’ at a different hotel which was free and had a male-to-female ratio of 1000:1

We bolted out of there as soon as we could and eventually met a few other people to go to Dublin for their 7th anniversary celebrations. Looks like all the hotels are on a high state of alert these days. My car was checked for explosives at the entrance and everyone had to go through a metal detector before entering the hotel. There was a 1500rs cover to get in that night but we got in for free since my friend’s got all the connections.

The club was pretty nice and the music was pumping until the celebrity DJ Akhtar from Mumbai started playing. His music was predictable – every third song was great, his transitions sucked and he was talking pictures with his friends at the DJ booth the whole night. I felt that my Zune could have been a better DJ that night. The resident DJ Rudy was awesome and had some great dance songs and reminded me of my favorite radio station c89.5. Drinks cost a fortune at the bar here but feels like people have way too much money these days. I saw quite a few celebrities last night including Mathew Hayden, film actors Dhanush, Shaam, Namitha, Shruti Hassan among other people.

It was a fun night but people are still socially awkward and conservative here. Need to check out the night life in Bangalore and Bombay before I write this one off. I drove back at around 2AM and was stopped and had my car searched glanced (at) at a police checkpoint inside the city.

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Weather report

Jul 24

Posted by kosh in usual | No Comments

Unlike Seattle, the weather in Chennai (aka. Madras) is very stable.

32C(90F) at night

37C (99F) during the day

32C(90F) room temperature

Clear skies with 0% chance of rain.

I miss Seattle.

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Traffic report

Jul 24

Posted by kosh in usual | 1 Comment

Let me start by saying that Chennai is really hot. 93F at 3AM is not pleasant weather, contrary to what people here think is pleasant weather. Now that we have the obvious out of the way, my next report is on traffic on the city roads.

Last night was quite eventful. My dad’s car had a dead battery from not being used for 3 months and the petrol tank in his scooter dried up. So, my resourceful dad charges the battery with a home made circuit and I decided to take his car to meet a friend and buy some petrol for the scooter. The car battery died again as the gas station and a few people helped me do a jumpstart push start by pushing the car down a slope and slipping it into gear.

So I drive back home with the friend, dump half a liter of petrol into the scooter and..well, the scooter refused to start. We ditched the plans, took an ‘auto’ back to my friend’s place and took her scooter instead.

** Part 2 **

The car and the scooter have been fixed. I’m yet to take the scooter out for a spin but I’m enjoying driving around in the car. There is no such thing as doing the right thing or a right of way or any other sane road rules. Looks like everything is a go now. As long as you have your eyes 10 feet 2 feetahead of you all the time and don’t crash into anyone in front of you, you are good. I confused the living hell out of the pedestrians and other drivers on the road today by slowing down to letting them pass or stopping at the stop line. The only rule that people follow here is that the bigger vehicles get the right of way, no matter what.

Driving around the city in my dad’s car, in rush hour traffic, gives me an adrenaline boost. Although it could get tiring very easily once my amusement phase expires. I almost caused a multiple vehicle collision by following the rules trying to do the right thing.

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