Vijay Narayanan on April 20th, 2009

The satellite ISRO launched into space yesterday carries a micro-satellite called ANUSAT, that was designed by Anna University, my alma mater.
ANUSAT is the first satellite developed by an Indian university (Anna University), which would demonstrate the technologies related to message storing and forward operations. University sources said scores of students and faculty from different streams had [...]

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Vijay Narayanan on October 19th, 2008

A few months ago, I had posted the links to Suryan FM’s live stream.
A few readers have commented that the stream no longer works. This is true. I checked Suriyan FM’s website, and I see that their live online stream is “under process“. So it is possible that the folks at Sun Network are working [...]

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Vijay Narayanan on October 14th, 2008

(Warning: Lotsa brackets, like this one.)
Back in 2001-02 (ah, the good ol’ days), when the stock markets recoiled after the dotcom bust and thousands of people found themselves out of a job in Silicon Valley, thousands of miles across the face of the earth, the impact was felt in Chennai. The great Indian IT boom [...]

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Vijay Narayanan on July 21st, 2008

… is the greatest city in the world.
But isn’t that as obvious as stating that paruppusili is the greatest food item ever?

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Vijay Narayanan on June 27th, 2008

It was from a friend’s status message on Google Talk (“Chennaiyil oru bhookamba kaalam”) that I came to know that Chennai had felt the aftershocks of an earthquake that rocked the Andamans. Was glad to know that there was no damage reported to either life or property.
This is the fouth reported earthquake to hit Chennai [...]

Continue reading about When the earth quaked…

Vijay Narayanan on June 3rd, 2008

Suryan FM 93.5 is streaming their Chennai radio programs live online. Just go to their website, register for free and start listening (kELunga, kELunga, kEttukittE irunga!).
I had already written about Aahaa FM which streams live online.
In case you are interested in the URL for the streams:

Aahaa FM — mms://74.54.85.4/AahaaFM or rtsp://74.54.85.4/AahaaFM
Suriyan FM — mms://66.180.172.26/suryanFMchennai or [...]

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Vijay Narayanan on April 27th, 2008

One of the nicest things about the Indian Premier League is that the Chennai team lead the pack now. Still the only unbeaten team in the league, the Kings of Chennai rock!
Incidentally, I thought the Mumbai Indians would do better than lose four in a row.

Continue reading about Chennai Super Kings: Pride of the South

Vijay Narayanan on April 13th, 2008

The Woodlands Drive-in Restaurant just off Mount Road in Chennai is not just another idly-dosa-vada place. A landmark, it has its place in the city’s modern heritage. It was the first, and for a long time, the only restaurant in Chennai where you could enjoy your food amidst the tress in your car. I remember [...]

Continue reading about A landmark no more…

Vijay Narayanan on September 22nd, 2006

For the past few days, some new radio channel has been testing out the airwaves in Chennai. They broadcast for a few hours, in the late afternoon and early evening; you can tune in to 106.4 FM. As of now, there are only songs, no announcements, let alone advertisements. So, I have no idea about [...]

Continue reading about More waves in the air

Vijay Narayanan on March 27th, 2006

Till yesterday, I didn’t know what Metroblogging meant. Well, I don’t claim much knowledge even now. But Chennai has been placed on the Metroblogging circuit, and that’s great news!Many thanks to Kaps, Kiruba, Nancy, Keerthi, Chandru, Vatsan and Echo.

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Vijay Narayanan on January 31st, 2006

Most people in Chennai would be baffled to know that there is a famous locality in the city whose name translates to “Sacred Lily Tank”. This one can attribute partly to the classicism of the name, and partly to the anglicism of the same.

Triplicane, a name which which actually can pass of as a borough [...]

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Vijay Narayanan on November 22nd, 2005

The Chepauk stadium is considered (not just by people from Chennai) as one of the best venues in India not just for the laurels India has won on this ground, but also because it is “reputed to be the most knowledgeable and appreciative in the country” (Cricinfo.com).That sporting crowd has, in the past few years, [...]

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Vijay Narayanan on October 28th, 2005

Is this Chennai? A city which rejoices if there is cloud cover for 40 minutes was lashed, battered (and at places, bruised) by 40 hours of non-stop torrential downpour. Yes, 40 hours! Of those I know, only Soumyadip should have experienced such rainfall.Now that the rains have stopped for almost a day, Chennai starts limping [...]

Continue reading about A day in Cherrapunji

Vijay Narayanan on October 3rd, 2005

Indians, in particular, Tamilians are known for their hospitality. The way we adapt with other peoples and cultures in evident from the popularity of many filmstars and politicians. Rajnikanth, KJ Yesudoss, SP Balasubramanian do not hail from Tamil Nadu, and yet are followed fanatically.In the past few years, Udit Narayan has risen to prominence in [...]

Continue reading about Udit, stop it!

Vijay Narayanan on June 21st, 2005

This past weekend, some of my project members went to Vishakapatnam to attend the marriage of a colleague. As they returned to work yesterday, most of them were sporting an undesirable tan! At more than 45 degrees C (113 F), the sun was merciless. On an average they should have imbibed 10 litres of fluids [...]

Continue reading about Who cares about little Johnny?