Uniforms for Chennai

I read this article a few weeks back and it got me thinking about school uniforms in Chennai and how most of them do not make sense considering Chennai's weather. The school I went to had a pink(yes! but it wasnt bright pink) pinafore worn with a white shirt. (Can you believe that even our school bus was painted pink? ). The rest of the uniform consisted of white canvas shoes, divided skirts for sports(yes, pink!), black ribbons, and hair plaited in to two separate braids. I used to dislike plaiting my hair this way because I used to think I looked stupid (later I came to realize i looked stupid in whatever hairstyle. Okay I am kidding :-) or maybe not). Anyways, each strand of my hair is really thin and I do not have too much of hair on my head. Its alright for those girls with thick hair to have two plaits but on me, it looked liked two black wires hanging on either side. Okay, I am exaggerating but you get the picture. Even wearing a collared shirt in Madras is an ordeal thanks to the humidity, now imagine a thick pinafore on top. Our was not the only school which had the pinafore as its uniform. There were also some schools which had the half-saree. Now in my opinion, the half-saree is an extremely sexy dress and I am not sure why its considered appropriate by the moral police. I do not have anything against it but only against those in power who seem to have decided that sleeveless tops and low waisted pants should not be worn. If you ask me, the best kind of uniform would be soft cotton pants or shorts and soft cotton sleeveless tops :-). Salwar kameezes would be nice too.
It will happen soon, when I start my own school!

p.s: My write-up (i can hardly call it a review) on Ah Aah did not show up on technorati. hmm..I wonder why? I need to start tagging my posts soon.

Geetha

A few weeks back, I came across this article and it was sad reading about it and had me wondering what could have prompted this girl to jump to death, and that too with an infant. How could she kill her own child? What kind of person was this woman? What was she thinking when she jumped? Did she make her decision at that instant or had she been planning it for a while?
You can imagine my surprise then, when I found out recently that this girl, Geetha, was my classmate when I was an undergraduate student in an engineering college. She used to mail the class mailing list occassionally and her last mail to the group was when her daughter was born. We were acquainted just enough to exchange a half-yearly email. Its very sad and unfortunate that she decided to end her own life. But what bothers and saddens me more is, how could she murder a child ?
On a related note, female infanticide is still practised in some regions of Tamil Nadu and I suspect in other places in India too. The problem is deep-rooted and has underpinnings in culture and traditions. When even some educated parents view their daughters as deserving less than their sons, its going to be a while for this practise to stop completely. (I understand that the problem is not solely one of education and I was generalizing in my previous statement).

Ah Aah

I watched the music release function of Ah Aah (Anbae Aaruyire) recently on Sun TV. In case you are wondering if I have become that jobless, please remember I am jobless. :-). Each and every song from this movie is awesome. SPB has sung 'Thazhuvudhu' so well (as they say in Chennai "Summa edhuthu saapittu erukkar"). The lyrics of Anbae Aaruyire would have suited Rajni better but its a great song. And singing the same tune and lyrics - once with techno beats ('maramkothiye') and the other a more traditional version ('mayiliragae') - is fantastic. I am really enjoying this album. Long live ARR!

p.s: A more in-depth review here.