Lalita Iyer

Since I am a free lancer now, there is no rush of assignments. There is work which keeps me on my toes and I can get quite frayed every now and then. Having said that, I take great pleasure in going for a small ride with good, old trusted driver Raju. Sometimes we run errands and end the small trip with a cup of one of the most delicious ginger tea, available behind the petrol bunk at Srinagar Colony. And depending on the mood, there is a hot plate of vadas with the spiciest of chutneys from this bandi chap, parked safely on the pavement near Ganapati Complex. Earlier, we used to land at this spot where we would get these fried batter wonders steaming hot. But in the recent past, in fact the last three times, we have landed at a time, when he has fried so many of these, that he was not planning to make another batch in some time. The first time I heard this, I took it as a personal affront, for till now I had been served them hot. I left in a huff, thinking it would make a difference. ...

 Finance has never been my strong point, especially when the words outlays, Excel sheets and Ebidta are used and those who are discussing these issues also use the word million very often. So, you see converting that into lakhs takes some time, before I can feel thrilled about any budget. Our Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, whom I admire at various levels, did not sparkle this time. Quite often you listen to the budget speech only for the introduction, the various pauses and the simple majesty of discussing the finances of the nation.  And invariably what sticks to your mind is whether the income tax on your miniscule salary has been decreased or not. Sometimes you might hear that the cost of the refrigerators, ACs, etc have increased or decreased. It is the latter this time. For an absolute common man on the road this is enough. He/she is concerned about the increase in the bus ticket fare, cost of onions/tomatoes and whether he will get a job or not. The rest is mumbo ...

There were two news items, which appeared in the media, similar to some extent. One was about a farmer who walked into a Mahindra showroom only to be insulted by the dealer there. The dealer was shown his place when the farmer carried hard cash and proved that looks had nothing to do with the ability to buy something, even though it might have several zeroes added. Anand Mahindra won several brownie points when he got the vehicle delivered to the farmer with due apologies. There is no mention of the dealer and whether he ate dust. The other story discusses in great detail about how you have to look the part when you walk into one of those high end shops, designer outfits or those exclusive jewellery stores. Apparently you need to dress up, carry the right handbag, wear high heels and speak `purrrfect' English or else you won't be served. REALLY? So, now we have this new caste system for shopping.  What if I do not want to shop, then what?  Can I just go window shopping, look s...

  MY TRIP TO TIRUMALA - MEMORABLE AT VARIOUS LEVELS During my earlier avatar as The Week correspondent, I had done a small piece on `Curtain Mani,’ also popularly known as `Pardah Mani.’ He is a donor of hand stitched curtains for Swami Vaaru, Lord Venkateswara and like his father earlier, walks up to the temple almost on a daily basis for his darshan. And donates the curtains every quarter or possibly more often. And he has been inviting me to visit Tirupathi for the longest time. But as they say, the invitation has to come from the Lord of the Seven Hills or else nothing works. A couple of days earlier, Manigaru called me and asked me to come to Tirupathi that evening. He probably thought I was from Chennai. I had to convince him that since that was not a possibility, if he could postpone it for the coming Monday. But for some reason he was insistent and booked me for this Friday. What was meant to be a picnic with my other girl friends, soon became a picnic with my other couple ...

I have become a blogger quite late in life. In fact today is my first day as a blogger. I tried quite often to start one and failed, though I had advice from apparently  technically savvy persons. But one afternoon, even as I was doing something at Prajwala, my friend Dr Sunitha Krishnan simply clicked a few buttons and taught me how to get this space for myself.   It takes time for me to assimilate technology and though I have learnt a lot, and  have reached a certain comfort level, I find it difficult when I have to change the status quo. It is definitely a mindset and now I have decided to learn more. It may be slightly late in the day but I have decided to start blogging. Expressions and opinions  are free and like the rest of them I have a lot of them. But sometimes I do not have the patience, or for that matter, energy and firstly I might not have the necessary data to present my point of view, as a good reporter. The blog meanwhile, I think gives me some ...