Is it dairy or diary? I always get confused. And there is much to be confused about anyway. The schedules for various programmes are still coming in and we should have sent them to print yesterday. Muthiah is tearing his hair and Shankar (of Pace Systems) is faintly hysterical. My view is that it is better Muthiah tears his hair (he has more than me) and after the famous eye crisis of 2008, I dont want to get hysterical. I must be calm… be caLM… be CALM… BE CALM!!!
So the Madras Week which is now a Madras Fortnight got off to a good start last evening with the Rotary Club of Madras South having its quiz on Madras, with questions and quiz-mastering by yours truly. Our President had instructed me to wear kurta and dhoti which I duly did only to have him turn up in jeans. The sound port of the Apple Macbook Air played mischief in the last minute. My conclusion after two years of the Macbook is that while it is good to look at, starts up and shuts down quickly, is light and virus free, it is so delicate that many of its extensions and orifices have frequent trouble. The charger conked off last month and had to be replaced at enormous cost. The connector to the LCD failed a good six months ago and had to be replaced at huge expense. And now this sound port. What do I do about this? I must have the patience of Job to deal with it.
Anyway, as a last minute replacement got the wife’s pink coloured VAIO which weighed a ton and took hours to start up. There was some conflict between the Mac and the VAIO and so the videos wouldn’t play. Someone did something and then they did. Quiz went off well.
Some of the questions:
1. Which Chennai based institution’s in-house magazine is called Cobra?
2. Which single precinct has the pincode 600104?
3. What are the routes of Chennai Metrorail?
4. Each year in the month of Purattasi (September/October) Chennai sends out a gift to Tirumala (Tirupati). What is it?
5. Who organises the June Rock Out series of Rock Concerts in Chennai?
6. If it is Pasha’s at The Park, Dublin at Park Sheraton, what is it at The Raintree?
And so on. Lots of video and audio questions. Six teams and plenty of audience participation.Basic stuff but everyone had a good time. The dhoti was a menace but I pulled it off well, no that is not what I meant, but you get the idea anyway.
I was asked the usual question of how I manage so many events during Madras Week and is it really worth it. My point is, I dont go setting up these events, someone invites you and you dont feel like saying no. And so that is it. You go and do your best. Is it worthwhile? Sure is. Something for Chennai, my city.