Anuradha Sridharan

This question came to my mind when I visited a famous idli shop in Chennai recently. We ordered for idli and the waiter served just the idlis. We were waiting for chutney for a while and then we asked the waiter. "Wait pannunga sir" was his reply. After a few minutes, he brought the chutney. Before paying the bill, we decided to take some parcels home. This was the waiter's reply - "Idha munnaadiye kettirukalamale?" (Can't you ask for this before?). We were shocked. What's his problem? If he feels stressful about his work, then he should talk to his boss and not show his anger towards the customers. We had visited this place a few times now and the waiters' responses have always been arrogant. I agree that the place is always crowded and the waiters are on their toes all the time. But the customers are not to be blamed for that. It's the hotel management's responsibility to hire more waiters and more efficient cooks. I'm pretty sure if th...

Ten years back, we only had these landline phones and suddenly,cell phones arrived at such an affordable price. Our lives are not the same any longer. I've been observing certain peculiar behaviour with people using cell phones these days. Let's say a person A who is sitting in a train starts to fiddle with his cell phone as he is feeling bored. Either he is playing a game or typing a message. The person sitting opposite to him takes out his cell phone and starts fiddling with his cell phone too. When someone hears an SMS arrival tone, atleast two people will take out their phones from their pockets and check if they have got any message, though they might not even have felt the vibration. There is a very less probability that two phones will have the same ring tone. We have become crazy about ringtones and also the latest in the entry, hello tunes. My brother used to have this song "Vaadi Vaadi kaippadaadha CD" from the Tamil movie Sachin as his hello tune. I wonder...

How would you feel when you go back to the school where you started your primary education, after a span of 17 years? How would you react when you meet the teacher who taught you the alphabets and nursery rhymes and who still teaches in the same school? I got to experience these feelings last Saturday when I visited my primary school. The small place which helped me take big steps in my life! Seeing the little children in non-uniform dress (no uniform dress on Saturday), hearing the same ringing bell that I used to yearn for so I could go back home and play, meeting the same lady who maintains the school premises, speaking to Ruby miss who is my LKG class teacher, seeing my headmaster, the "Big Master" who has become old but the same scary voice - wow, what an experience it was! He was so happy to see me. He spoke with us (My hubby, my cousin and me) for nearly two hours. Unfortunately my headmistress wasn't there in school that day. It would have been nice to meet her af...

I always wonder about the massive universe and the galaxies far away from this earth. Is there existence of life somewhere else? How does it feel inside a spaceship? Do we know much about the other galaxies? Astronomy is one fascinating subject. The more you explore, you will realize there is still more to be explored. I don't have a reason as to why it took me so long to visit a planetarium. My New Year resolution of doing something new every weekend finally took me to Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium last Sunday. It's not a very big place to go around. The main hall attracts you with posters of various planets and paintings of Albert Einstein. I especially liked the poem that explains about Einstein's contributions in the year 1905. There is also a place where you can get your weights checked in different planets for 5 bucks. The main attraction is the 45 minute show on Solar System. The show takes place in a circular auditorium with a sky like roof setup. The prelude to the ...

My contribution to Sunday Scribblings #40 - Destination A visual bliss A bright sunrise, A colourful palette The hues of the sky, Chirping birds Early morning risers, Crystal clear individual dew drops, Different varieties Flowers in blossom, Slow, steady motion my precious bicycle, a mellow melody humming soft voice, my final destination peak of the mountain, a beautiful journey rabbits for company, green grass bed a vast meadow, may we relax in joy and peace.

My contribution to Sunday Scribblings #39 - Change A tense Uday was staring at his home computer at 2 AM. He was supposed to complete a lot of work by next morning. For the past six months, his work had always been stressful and hardly he had time for himself or his family. Strenuous work pressures and taking more responsibilities than he could handle had started showing negative effects on his health. Stress, RSI, migraine attacks - he had everything. His wife Reena could no longer bear to see his health getting deteriorated. Thinking that she should do something about this situation, she woke up the next day with a sense of conviction. After seeing her husband off to work, she went to visit her psychiatrist friend Pooja. As enthusiastic as always, Pooja greeted her with a warm smile. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, Reena explained the problem to her. As though she had been listening to such problems day in and day out, Pooja smiled and said "This is such a simple probl...