Weekend Notes III

Finally some fodder for a post! Hope all of you had a nice relaxing long weekend. Ours was good too. Saturday was spent at home - cleaning, washing and the works. BIL (call him A) arrived saturday evening and the rest of the time was spent chatting and eating!

Sunday morning we woke up early (OK - by 6.45) and after having some oatmeal, mounted the bike to go on a long ride. BIL took his and C&I on the new FZ. We first went to the beach(Marina), rode further along and reached the Besant Nagar beach and then went further ahead to Foreshore Estate, Adyar, reached OMR and all the way till Sholinganallur(a little further than that)! It was such a beautiful ride... the air was so clean, unpolluted and slightly chilly that it made for a perfect weather. We swapped bikes on the return took a detour to Velachery on OMR and reached home by 9.30 or so. Some 50 kms. we had travelled.

Had some snacks and watched the Australian Open match between Federer and Berdych. What a match it was. We were to go out for lunch and I desperately wished for a TMF win (to be in a nice frame of mind) and finally he won in 5 sets!

We took A to Osteria again ;-) and as usual had a fabulous lunch. On our way back, C asked us if we wanted to go somewhere else. In spite of being in Chennai for so long, I haven't really been to many places. Even places like Mylapore are 'new' to me. C on the other hand knows the city better than his wardrobe! He and my father can work for Google maps. I am sure they can give directions to any place, no matter what your mode of conveyance is. While C is very good with the public transport systems, my dad can give driving directions like a pro.

Now, C has lived in the Mandaveli area for quite some years. So he decided to show me the place where they had a house. We parked the car and walked into a nice small lane lined on both sides with houses and shops. C & A were thrilled to see the place after so many years and I was enjoying their happiness :-) After reminiscing the past, we all headed back to the car and decided to drive all the way to Adyar to see C's school, St.Patricks (where he did his 11th and 12th). Being a Sunday, it was closed. But what a magnificent campus it has! Such a serene place with huge trees and lots of open space, right behind Adyar river... it was splendid. If only the authorities took care of the river and remove the stench, it simply will be terrific.
We chatted with the watchman and C was inquiring about the present and past teachers. Finally, we took some photos outside the school and left with C feeling rather nostalgic. We thought we'd head home but on the way, I spotted the Birla Planetarium. We've been wanting to go there for quite some time and so decided impromptu to check it out. We reached there by 3.50 or so and a show had started by 3.45. But since there was quite a crowd, they announced a special show at 4.30.
We bought the tickets - it was a package of Rs.45 each, included entry, a 3D 'science' movie and the planetarium show, and ventured into the area. The 3D show was quite a disappointment. Well, I guess the 15-20 odd kids liked it, but it could have been a thousand times better. We were left wondering why they called it a 'science' movie. There was nothing scientific in it. Except of course the 3D techonolgy! It looked like they played some cheap video game (the kind that you get in a CD that comes along with PC world magazine). The first 5 minutes didn't make any sense. There was something like a rocket/missile launcher and the camera zoomed across, up and down into a series of tunnels and laboratory type rooms. The screen blanked out for a few seconds and the next scene was at a lab with a goofy scientist. Couldn't understand a word he spoke... it all sounded gibberish and mostly like the computer sound that you get on a casio keyboard. He tries to invent something when all goes wrong and he ends up 'inventing' a snake, skull and some tortoise-like aliens! Oh, it was such crap. The snake and skull kind of come into 3D and that bit was interesting, but on the whole it was way below average.

This show ended in 15 minutes and we moved across to the hall for the 4.30 show. It was almost 4.50 by the time they started. The main show was good. Atleast they had kept it current w.r.t Pluto's planetary status and newly found heavenly bodies. There was no mention of Chandrayaan. Again, it could have been much better.

After the show, we went around the science park located within the campus. They had some interesting stuff but sadly most of them did not work and were damaged. We were left wondering why it lacked maintenance. Nevertheless, we tried out things that were functioning and it was actually hilarious. Finally, it was time to return home after a totally unplanned but fun-filled outing.