when i actually read a newspaper

there ARE things to read.

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i saw a pic of the chief minister promoting a bar of chocolate. aavin, the govt-run milk supplier, is breaking into the chocolate segment.

aavin and co have chosen the eminently suitable , original, marketable and very subtle name for their chocolate bar — ‘nutty’

sigh.

a brand new chocbar hits the market in 2013, and the powers-that-be come up with ‘nutty’.

i read on, hopefully, to find if they did better for the next bar – but the milk chocolate with nuts is called … ‘milky and nutty’

aavin, i say to you what my chemistry teacher wrote on my report card 20 years ago.’can do better’.
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in other news,
some new trains are going to become double-decker now.
at once, i felt these things should have happened when i was 10 and easily entertained.

but hey. not much has changed 24 years later.
wherever the train is going, i am going too.

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reading over my shoulder into the edit page – firstborn wants to know what ‘winning the battle but losing the war’ means – and when i heard my explanation i was sad about how poignant it sounds, to a 7 year old.

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and here’s my fistpump chennai moment– purebred chennai company TVS buys a british firm – awesome, wot.

chennai people never bought anything more expensive than plain dosai, when i was growing up.
‘rava dosa is rs. 14 masala dosa is rs. 15, let’s eat plain dosa at rs. 8.’ was the ingrained thought-process when i was as high as firstborn. life minus sambar, chutney and aloo was considered worth living.

and look at ’em chennai folks now. awesome wot.
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tom alter is only 62 years old. i thought he must be nearing 200 or something.

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rocky singh and mayur sharma WROTE their own book. didnt know that. i loved their tv show, many moons ago. should totally buy their book.
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i read the Grand Sweets and snacks has branches at tnagar, ra puram, chetpet, porur , mylapore, guindy and a half-dozen other places…
at once, i felt this should have happened when i was 10 and always hungry.

but hey. not much has changed 24 years later.
hello badushah here i come.

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and i am now firmer in my resolve never to have a tv.
what if i flip channels and accidentally tune into vijay tv.
prakashraj, [shudder], it is announced in a half-page ad, is the new host of the tamil version of kaun banega crorepathi.

run for your life.