Kivela Developers blog, star date 47410.2

Deepak and Sunitha’s wedding

Last week I received an invitation to go to the wedding reception of Deepak and Sunitha. (Sunitha is an Indian colleague) It was an honour and quite an experience for me.

In India it is quite normal to have +500 people on your wedding reception,... and you all get to eat too!

The bride was dressed up really beautiful and the groom was really charming and friendly although I never met him before.

I've added some pictures of the reception and dinner afterwards.

This wedding was really something special because it is a love-marriage opposed to the arranged weddings (which still take place), it took them more then 10 years to arrange (and get permission for) the wedding. He is a christian and she is a hindu which made it not easy but they managed to make it through...

Thanks Deepak and Sunitha ! I wish you all the best.

Hyderabad bombings

Last saturday my colleagues and me were asked to leave the Dublin club at 12 o'clock.
At that point it was not clear to us why the club closed so soon, and everybody was in such a rush to leave.

On sunday when we watched the news it all made sense....

Nameless, ruthless and pointless

IT IS a strange terrorist who prefers to remain anonymous. Yet this seems to be the signature of the bombers who, every few months for the past few years, have exploded crude bombs in India's cities. The latest blasts were in pleasant southern Hyderabad on August 25th. In quick succession, explosions in a park during a laser show and at a crowded food-stall killed 43 people and injured scores. Another 19 bombs were discovered planted around Hyderabad, and made safe. The government of Andhra Pradesh, of which Hyderabad is the capital, leapt to blame the customary suspects: “terrorist organisations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan”.

Read more here and here.

After this news and especially the info they gave on the Indian channels we decided to stay in the hotel on sunday instead of going to spencer plaza and t.nagar...

Chennai’s newest problem

The last couple of days my colleagues and I noticed that there was a lot, err... even more garbage on street corners than normal in Chennai. We found out why...

RESIDENTS OF three thickly populated zones of Chennai have had to put up with piles of stinking garbage for the past few days after a new contractor appointed by the Chennai Corporation failed to get its act together even three days after his tenure began.
The previous contractor, CES Onyx of Singapore, which had been doing a commendable job for the last seven years, was replaced by the JBM-Fanalca joint venture after a fresh bid to clear 1,200 tonnes of garbage daily - one-third of the city's total waste. But on August 25, JBM's local company Neel Metals failed to show up with its garbage bins and compactors, leaving the residents with no option but to leave their waste by the roadside.
Neel Metals was nowhere to be seen even on Wednesday, four days after it took over. The 150 mini trucks it had deployed were simply not enough to handle the city's waste in the absence of the 600-kg capacity bins and compactor trucks needed to transport the waste to the dump yard. While embarrassed Corporation officials initially tried to make light of the situation by calling it a transition hiccup, it was later forced to use its own trucks and men to clear the accumulated garbage. It even got Onyx to redeploy its bins and compactors to handle the emergency. With the non-performance of its new contractor evident, the Corporation has decided not to give it an additional zone that was originally allotted to it.
"It is a fact that Neel Metals failed to get its act together, though they were given the contract a month ago. We have given them notice and if they fail to improve within a month, we may review the contract," Chennai Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni told HT. Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin blamed the delay on the non-arrival of garbage bins from Sintex, due to a fire in the company's factory, and promised things would look up in 10 days. Neel Metals CEO P.S. Batra also promised "things would improve in the next few days".

Source: yahoo India News

People here think it will take another 4 weeks for all garbage will be cleaned up. Do keep in mind that even at night its 30 degrees here and that a lot of people sleep on the streets...

Mahabalipuram – the saga continues

Today we went back to Mahabalipuram because our colleague Davy wasn't in India the previous time.

Instead of writing up a big story I'll just let the photos talk.

Indian style warning signs

No kidding...

Death wish

Guess what

Please don't jump...

How many crocodiles can you fit in one pit ? 391 for sure


Me holding a baby python

Davy and me holding a baby crocodile

Racism in India ?

Simple rules for the Mamallapuram park

Lawn mowing in progress

Pictures at the beach...

The complete set of pictures can be found here

Thinking about you baby!

St thomas and marina beach

Thursday my colleagues and I went for an nighttime visit to saint thomas church and marina beach.

As always you can find the pictures on my picasaweb account.

San Thome Basilica is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Santhome, in the city of Chennai, India. It was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers, and rebuilt again with the status of a cathedral by the British in 1893.
It is supposedly built atop the tomb of one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, St. Thomas. The apostle is believed to have preached in Chennai (formerly Madras) between 52 A.D. and 72 A.D., when he is said to have been killed on St. Thomas Mount.

As Borat would say it: It's nice

Marina beach on the other hand is the second largest beach in the world. Or that is what they will tell you anyway.

Although many locals claim the Marina to be the world's longest (or second longest) beach, there exist in fact several longer beaches, including Praia do Cassino in Brazil (which is actually the longest beach in the world stretching upto 240 kms), Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, Padre Island on the US Gulf Coast, Ninety Mile Beach in Australia and Ninety Mile Beach, New Zealand. However, unlike the other beaches, it is an urban beach similar to the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Source: wikipedia

Around 7 when it becomes dark in Chennai it seems that all the couples come to Marina beach to talk and make out. This really is a strange sight compared to the bikini walruses sometimes found on our beaches when the temperature hits 30 degrees.

Hehe...

I promisedDavy Brion proof that there are pretty girls in India just like in any country so here it goes.

Shriya is the name of an Indian actress born in 1982.

And a picture to go with that:

Ofcourse this is a big movie star (in Chennai), but none the less it counts.