An Hour on Earth on Earth Hour

March 29th we switched off all lights (except the fridge, as hubby pointed out). We drove to the beach and spend a good hour and more, wondering how much of the beach can be saved and for how long. With the callous, indifferent and uncaring attitude of most of the residents. I don't know how much difference we can make by this gesture but it is a matter of being sportive for your earth. Probably a sneaked up loadshedding would have helped. We would have grumbled but managed for an hour. We would have come out of our homes and chatted with other residents and complained and gone back to our homes when the hour was up. The TV channels should have stopped transmission. Radio Mirchi was campaigning for it, News channels flashed the pleas but atleast in my complex inspite of my mailer, nobody was concerned, and we live so close to the beach. My hubby said we are the only ones who have gone dark. As if I was to blame for it.
Probably in some way I was. I could have taken a stronger stand. I could have requested the secretary to take a firm step and shut off the mains. No one would have been any wiser. By hook or crook we would have participated. In our own ways, we do make efforts in our apartment to save power. We shut of alternate lamp posts after 8 pm every night. We do not switch on all lights on the corridors. We have energy saving lamps so therefore we have a set of conscientous people. So we could have participated. Why be forced to do so when you can on your own accord, though? K got his boys in office to switch off the non-essentials during the hour. He also has energy saving hours/ days priodically in his office.
Anyway, we went to the crowded beach dressed in our Saturday best. The kids enjoyd jumping off from the seating area.
My stupid question to hubby- why do the pushcarts selling icecream and the raw mango/ channa etc park themselves together at regular intrvals down the beach. My stupid guesses - either they want to socialize or they want to create mini one stop pitstops at regular intervals or they want to stay close to each other so that incase one feels that they have eaten too spicy stuff, they can neutralise it with icecream.
We then celebratd by driving down ECR and dining at the Delhi Dhabha- part of the triad of restaurants- Asia Garden that serves Thai, Malaysian, Chinese etc, Malgudi and Delhi Dhabha all part of the Savera group, who also owns the Kabab court on the same road.
I had been given my farewell lunch at this place in 2006. The place is much developed now. The parking lot is well organised and the place looks inviting.
There is the customery well at the entry point. A garden walk leads us to Malgudi on the left and Delhi Dhaba on the right and the Asia Garden is on the 1st floor at the entrance.
Astrologers seat on the left- with a parrot and a tiny rabbit and another palmist. We missed the potter who is there during the afternoon. There was a portrait artist who does it for Rs 49 in 20 minutes. Since he was leaving by 10.30 pm and had time to do only one, we did not do it at all. There is an ancient style bare swing and Mom and babies had a good time on that. On the right, there is a fish pond and the kids were fascinated by the coloured fish. The pond is visible from Delhi Dhabha and they spend a good time with their noses pressed to the glass from the inside and jostling their way with a couple of kids in the restaurant.
There is a horse cart without the horse and a tiny lotus pond with a bell, a pond which you may risk falling into, it is so small and hardly distinguishable from the lawn grass. There are pushcarts at various points that serve as service points and a visible kitchen.
A garden party was on and the bamboo framed sofa size seats made the whole setting look very inviting. A huge screen was relaying something I don't recall and the whole atmosphere was very comforting and homely. There are cottages made of mud each labelled Uttar, Dakshin, Madhya, Purab, Paschim. Only Uttar is occupied with ethnic wear from Sanskruti-this is a Kutch home-office outfit from somewhere in North Chennai and very visible in all exhibitions. She has good dress material but the readymades are not too great. Very oversized (like the owner) and disproportionate- atleast the M & L sizes. There is an Auroville type store also.
The Delhi Dhaba interiors are based on the movies theme with lot of contemporary movie posters and chair backs adorning portraits of the stars.
We had butter chicken, tandoori, rotis & biriyani. The portions were small albeit tasty. We had gulabjamuns which were too soft and almost like a gulabjamun halwa in sugar syrup. The food could have been better - the expectations were raised but I was sort of disappointed - the taste was not addictive, I want to go there again for the sake of the concept but not for the taste. And moreover I did not feel bursting to the seams after eating inspite of 1.5 naan/ paratha which is usually more than sufficient for me.
We watched Race yesterday- again sort of hyped expectations, but falling abruptly flat in the end. I ended up feeling a little cheated, wanting for more, as if I did not get the entire paisa vasool- like a Jab we met or a Guru...everything was very formula-ish and fast paced as if the director is in a great rush to finish the movie. But it did keep me interested and it was the blink and you miss the links in the story kinds. Some of the songs were danceable numbers- the kids danced to them giving their seal of approval and cried for more. Anil Kapoor's double meaning cheap dialogues were totally tasteless and unnecessary. Katrina looked stylish but dumb and I don't know why Bipasha cannot put some realistic expression on her face. She can do great - I liked her during the reality shows but her diction is poor and expressions are incongruous in movies. The beard suited Saif- for the role he was playing and between him and Akshay, I was not sure on whose side I was in the movie. It is timepass movie but you won't miss anything if you don't see it.
This morning K gave Tejas a hair cut in his sleep. We didn't have the energy to get it done in the salon. He screamed so much last time that the passerbyes from the street peeped in to watch!
Have stacked up a few Danielle Steels- trashy but since they are a long read it is good in the toilet.
I have grand plans of buying the entire Archer/ Sidney series for my collection in the near future. I would love to rediscover the stories because I am sure I have forgotten how they progressed.