Equality in Indian Religious Practices

People in India are quite devoted when it comes to their religious practices and ceremonies and I have nothing against someone doing something they want, as long as it does not affect others in a negative way. But then Indians want to let others know when they are doing something good, like praying or going on pilgrimages to temples like Sabari malai, etc., This is where I believe they encroach upon the space of others quite liberally.

Where we used to live, there was a church nearby. The Sunday services are always done with loud speakers and the whole surrounding area is forced to hear it. And we moved to another place and now there is another church nearby and the same deal again. Right next to my sister's house, there is a church and every Sunday no one can talk to them on phone since all you can hear is the loud preaching of the church. I do not understand why people have to disturb others when they are praying or doing religious ceremonies. This happens every Sunday and is very annoying. Didn't even Jesus Christ preach that when you pray, you pray in privacy without sounding a trumpet? Trumpets would be less louder and for much shorter duration, than the loud speakers we are forced to hear every Sunday!

Then there are other seasonal celebrations like going to Sabari mala, where people rent out loud speakers and blare the devotional music and their religious chantings out so loud, that one wonders whether these people are looking for peace and harmony, or just plain recognition.

The idea of equal rights in India seems to have a net negative effect on everyone. Everyone has a right to disturb everyone else... Non-Christians are annoyed by the loud Sunday services, Christians are annoyed by loud non-Christian ceremonies, and non-Muslims are annoyed by Muslim service calls. The point is to have everyone follow whatever they want, without disturbing others. Tolerance should not be in tolerating the annoyances caused by others, but should be a "live, and let live" attitude towards others that they can follow whatever they want and do whatever they want, and I am OK with that.

Chennai Furniture Shopping

Bought some furniture for my home recently and want to share a decent experience I had with the furniture stores. The store came highly recommended by my paternal uncle and cousin, who bought all the furniture for their home from that store. The furniture in their home looked quite good and I decided I would order almost exactly the same pieces of furniture and some mattresses from the store.

My first order was a big one. I got two single beds (cots) for my parents. The legs and the beams were all solid wood and the base (on which the mattress rests) was plywood. I got it for Rs. 13K each. Then I purchased a sofa set (one three seater and two one seaters) for 28K and a four-seater dining table for 14K. I also ordered two Kurl-on mattresses (one for 17K and another for 10K) for my parents. The total came to 97K (after discounts). The shop took some cash advance and delivered the items on time and took the remaining amount when they delivered.

My next order was for a double bed and it costed 21K. This order was delivered a day late, but compared to how a lot of things get delayed in India, a day's delay was alright (though I expected better from the store). There were also nominal delivery charges (750 for the first one and 500 for the second).

Ok, now you want to know which store this is. It is:
Sri Venkateswara Furniture,
No 573, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600006
Tel: 044 4269 2150

(The store is close to Teynampet police station.)

I found the owner Mr. Parthiban both amiable and efficient.

We believe the furniture will last us a long time (few decades at least).

Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with the store, the owner or will get any compensation for promoting the store. I am just a happy customer who likes to share both my positive and negative experiences with my shopping in India via this blog (since there is no Yelp in India yet).

Poorvika Mobiles - Bad Experience

Went to Poorvika mobiles in Valasaravakkam, Chennai on a Friday to get an airtel sim card. The process was usual - they took my aadhaar card original, photocopied it and then took two photos from me. I also got an Idea sim card for free (which I do not intend to use). Since the sale had to happen, the process was very quick and efficient. The promise was that in 24 hours the sim card will be activated... And as is usually the case with India, 24 hours later the sim was not activated! I went to the store and inquired about it. They still had my application with them. The excuse they gave was that the guy who was supposed to pick up the forms to the airtel office did not show up! Now I have to wait for two more days (till Monday) for the sim to be activated. This is just plain inefficient. I cannot understand why people cannot keep their word. In any case, this is just a post to warn others who are considering going to Poorvika that they may be just as inefficient as any other store.

UPDATE: I know that "free" usually means trouble. What has happened now is that Poorvika has sent the Idea sim card for activation first and is delaying the Airtel sim card. I believe this is a sneaky marketing ploy to get customers to buy Idea plans, instead of what they actually wanted. I am guessing Airtel sim card activation is now going to take much longer.

I am going to strongly advise my friends and family to avoid Poorvika Mobiles from now.

Coimbatore Experiences

Happened to travel from Chennai to Coimbatore to attend my nephew's wedding last week and thought I would record my experiences here.

We took Spice Jet from Chennai to Coimbatore. The ticket fare was for hand luggage only and the four of us (me, wife, my dad, my 5-yr old son) all comfortably took all we wanted in hand luggage itself. The weight restriction is 7 kg per person for one piece of luggage, plus 2 kg allowance for laptop bag, hand bag, or some small luggage. The flight was little more than an hour. Once we landed in Coimbatore, I tried to take a prepaid taxi to Kavundam Palayam, which is where our hotel was booked. The prepaid taxi rate was Rs. 600, which I thought was very expensive. So I enquired around and found the number for another taxi service, phone number 0422 6060 303. This cab service is called VK-CABBIE or something and costed us only 330. So this was a wise choice. Later I heard from others that there is something called red taxi, which is even less expensive.

Our hotel was Balu hotel on Mettupalayam road. It was about 1 km towards kavundam palayam signal from Ooty bus stand on mettu palayam road. The hotel was quite mediocre. It has a bar attached to it and if you happen to stay in one of the rooms close to the hotel reception, then cigarette smoke at night is going to suffocate you. Also all the rooms are smoking rooms, so if you travel with kids or hate passive smoking like me, then avoid this hotel. Avoid using the water bottle they provide. It is not a new one; they just fill water and keep it full and it looks exactly like a new bottle, until you open it and realize the seal is broken. The toilets were not cleaned properly. But there were some advantages. There is a coffee/tea shop just downstairs so we could satisfy our caffeine addiction twice a day. There is also a medical shop in the same building and we had to buy a lot of medicines, so that was quite convenient.

The wedding was in Kalpana Kalyana Mandapam. The wedding hall was nice and big, but then the construction of hand wash and the dining hall was just plain stupid. You have to get down half a floor for the handwash and then several steep steps to go down to the dining hall. Lot of old folks had a tough time and even normal people had to be careful when using the steep steps.

The food was catered by Malamurthy catering and was excellent. All the items were really good and I did not find a single item that was bad. This is really rare in India and I would consider it as a highlight of our whole trip.

Return trip was by IndiGo and we had check-in allowance, so checked in our suitcases. Once we landed in Chennai, we took fast track prepaid taxi. There was a guy with fast track uniform who took our luggage as soon as we stepped out of the airport with the fast track bill. I thought he was the driver. He was walking too fast for us, so I had to rush up to make sure he is not stealing something from our luggage! Only when he loaded our luggage to the taxi, the driver guy came and this guy stood next to me and said "Sir, thank you, sir" and looked like a drooling dog... I realized this guy just wants some money for pushing our super light cart for a couple of hundred feet. This is just plain cheating from fast track. I told him how I was taken for a ride by him and gave him 20 rupees. Not sure why fast track has to do this. In retrospect, I should have just used Ola cabs or Uber for airport pickup. Prepaid taxis have become a rip off in Chennai airport and Chennai Central and I hope the competition just eats them alive and they go out of business soon.