Harry's Spacebar

In the wake of the massive response to Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan teaser, this write up indeed is akin to the journey taken by Vandhiyadhevan through the historical spots of Tamil Nadu. The journey begins from the state's capital through the iconic capital cities of the Medeival Cholas, the Pandyan kingdom and finally to the tip of Indian peninsula with five interesting & unknown facts at each of the halting stations !! Starting Point : Madrasapattinam The state's largest and well developed city (rightfully the capital) is geographically placed along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city underwent numerous iterations to get it's recognition by name - from Madrasapattinam (capital of Madras State) to Madras and finally to Chennai. 1. This place was largely under the influence of Pallava rule - who built the Mahabalipuram and Pallavaram areas. Stone age implements found in these areas show a megalithic cultural establishment. Present day Kanchipuram (~60 km from...

June ponal, July kaatre ! The month of July is generally associated with the highest number of inbound tourism to the city that stands on the Thames River. One gets to enjoy a couple of offerings in this City of Royals - London during this period : 1. English summer which typically has long sunny days and ocassional thunderstorms 2. The Wimbledon Sports enthusiasts across the globe keenly follow this elite tournament which has risen from a garden party sport to a Grand Slam - 'grand' in the truest sense ! This Slam is probably one & only one to retain the sport's legacy & sanctity. Some aspects which are retained from the traditional tennis involves : (a) playing on outdoor grass court (b) only Slam wherein night matches aren't held (c) dress colour code - competitors abide by the 'strict all whites' The matches are decided by best of 5 sets & are single elimination encounters. Fixtures involve 128 competitors on grass to lay hand on the coveted tr...

"Ee Sala Cup Namde" ! - This time around the cup is ours The above famous one liner is synonymous to RCB's search of a maiden IPL title with each year passing by. RCB have a strong line up & the firepower to demolish any opponent on a specific day. With high hopes and expectations, their search for a victorious campaign is still on. There's an interesting rivalry at the border when it comes to their Southern Derby encounter with CSK (the city of love - "Vandhaarai vaazha vaikkum Chennai"). Both these capital cities are proximal to the 13th degree North Latitude on the global reference ! Parking sports aside for now, we take a comparative look between these two cities (referring them with their IPL abbreviations) from a common citizen's perspective. The excerpts from an argument between a CSKian & RCBian : Weather Mother Nature has been very kind with the "City of Gardens" and has gifted this place with an extremely pleasant & modera...