Here is another blogger who has
turned novelist. Amit Varma of \u2019India
Uncut\u2019 blog is the latest to cross over
from the blogosphere to book shelves.
He was in the city to launch his
debut novel \u2019My Friend Sancho\u2019.

int Street buzzes with life. It is said to be one of the longest streets in the

city. A trip through its narrow lanes during the hot sum- mer is tiring. We walked past the rickshawallas, vendors and criss- crossing vehicles in search of a hotel to refresh. That\u2019s when we spotted Novelty Tea House, which is close to Ekambareswarar Temple. The hotel looks pretty old from outside, but what caught our attention was the fad- ed banner reading about its \u2018Golden Jubilee Celebrations\u2019 held last year.

with miniature ceiling fans, each for a table, which came as a welcome relief. The bulky me- nu card,which had items from medu va- da to pav bhaji to pizza, came in as a real surprise. We or- dered two kul\ufb01s be- fore starting our conversation with Raju Shah, caretaker of the hotel.

Novelty Tea House was started in 1958 by Chandrakanth Shah, a native of Kutch, Gujarat, as a small shop selling tea, coffee and biscuits. He then expanded it into a small hotel selling snacks and

The specialties of the place are its pav bhaji, pudina (mint) onion dosa and grilled sandwich, says Shah. \u201cWe started selling pav bhajis in 1978 at Rs. 2 per plate. Now, it is sold at Rs. 40. Similarly, pizzas were available since the 1980s.\u201d

\u201cWe prepare the masalas at home. We never compromise on the quality of the food,\u201d he adds.

Shah says that they add only butter and ghee to make the del- icacies and for items which need frying they use oil. Interestingly, the hotel only sells tea or coffee

By the way, the kul\ufb01s and or- ange shell ice-cream were really good.\u25a0

(Too Good for Critics is a
weekly column to celebrate
Namma Chennai\u2019s \u2018Kaiyendi
Bhavans\u2019 and small eateries. If
you can think of a similar place,
mail us at feedback@goergo.in)

teams from across its centres in
Trivandrum, Kochi and Chennai.
Bailemos\u2019 is a unique event as associates
display their dancing skills in a highly
charged and competitive environment
that is \ufb01lled with fun. In an evening
marked by intense competition, the \ufb01rst
prize went to team \u2018Zealers\u2019 from
Chennai and the runners up to \u2018Dazzling
Divas\u2019 from Trivandrum.
What I liked and enjoyed about the
event is that it strengthens team spirit
across departments and locations. Every
individual has innate talents. However,
that gets buried among the busy
working schedule. Bailemos brings out
the real you. The other highlight of the
evening was to see UST global managers
dance to the music of Jai Ho.

The Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Indo-Russian
Film Club and The Madras Film Society are hosting the
Russian Film Festival. The festival is on till May 22. Films
will be screened at 6 p.m. and 7.45 p.m.

How to get there: Take
the buses going to Mint.
The hotel is very close
to Ekambareswarar

Address: No. 175, Mint
Street, Chennai -3
Phone Nos: 25341103,

ou are welcome to throw a shoe at me,\u201d he winked, adding \u201cI\u2019ll become an instant celeb- rity then\u201d.

Mumbai blogger Amit Varma\u2019s wit is not very different from the protagonist of his \ufb01rst novel \u2018My friend Sancho,\u2019 which he launched in the city on Mon- day at Landmark, where he was in conversation with blogger and poet Sharanya Manivannan.

Best known for his blog, www.indiauncut.com - ac- claimed as one of the best blogs in the country, Amit Varma\u2019s column in The Mint won him the Bastiat Prize for Journalism and he has also written for The Guardian and The New York Times. But Amit maintains that his \ufb01rst love remains \ufb01ction.

Dressed in a smart navy blue shirt and blue jeans, he looked a tad nervous at the beginning; hunching for- ward in his chair and constantly wiping his face. But as the evening progressed, he had his audience engaged in light chatter, entertaining them with funny answers and expressive reading.

\u201cMany people term me as a blogger-turned-novelist but I don\u2019t think my blog made me write a novel. I\u2019ve always wanted to write one. Journalism and blogging just came along. But I have to admit, they improved my writing to a great extent,\u201d he exclaimed.

\u2018My friend Sancho\u2019 is a contemporary love story set in Mumbai. It centers on Abhir Ganguly, a 23-year-old crime reporter who is sarcastic, cynical and ignorant. His editor asks him to pro\ufb01le a man who is murdered and for that purpose he meets his daughter Muneeza and falls in love with her. The change that she brings about in him and how he writes the article forms the crux of the story.

\u201cThough Abhir being a journalist from Mumbai seems autobiographical, it isn\u2019t. I just felt it was an in- teresting setting. A writer must always write about what they know best. I did just that,\u201d he said.

The book launch was attended mostly by followers of his four-year-old blog and there was even a small be- spectacled boy who hung on to Amit\u2019s every word. But most of them seemed alarmed by the fact that he wrote t0he book entirely at night.

\u201cDon\u2019t take too much coffee. Tea has antioxidants and something else that I don\u2019t remember. Please drink tea,\u201d advised one sprightly man and while another look- ing overtly concerned asked Amit \u201cSir, how is it possible to live such a lifestyle.\u201d To this Amit calmly said; \u201cI\u2019m just living American time in India,\u201d with a grin.\u25a0

\u201cMany people term
me as a blogger-
turned-novelist but I
don\u2019t think my blog
made me write a
novel. I\u2019ve always
wanted to write
one. Journalism and
blogging just came

ife was normal in Chennai even after media reports on the death of LTTE supremo Vellupillai

Prabhakaran started coming in from Sunday afternoon. However, minor inci- dents of stone-pelting were re- ported in some parts till Tuesday evening.

According to police sources, on Monday night unidenti\ufb01ed men pelted stones at a few buses parked inside the Arumbakkam and Velappanchavadi depot, da- maging windshields and hea- dlights.

In another incident the same night, a group of college students pelted stones at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board Of\ufb01ce on Anna Salai. Some members of the pub-

lic who witnessed the incident caught three from the group and handed them to the Anna Salai police. The culprits were let off after a warning, police sources added.

Earlier on Sunday, over 10 men armed with clubs and iron rods damaged glass display windows of showrooms in Chennai Citi Centre on R.K. Salai.

front sliding glass doors and over 10 cars parked on the mall prem- ises. Security guards at the mall said that the men with their faces covered shouted slogans as they went on rampage.

However, police said the attack was a repercussion of a quarrel between the Inox management and a group of men over the sell- ing of cinema tickets in black out- side the mall.

Following the incident, police security was stepped-up at Citi Centre and other malls in the city, including Spencer Plaza.

A Special Action Group (SAG) has been deployed for additional security at key locations in the city and also at the Sri Lankan High Commission on T.T.K. Road and Bank of Ceylon on Poona- mallee High Road.\u25a0