Tata

In India there is a mega company. A behemoth of industry and business. This is the Tata Group. Our hotel the Taj Mount Road (very nice, by the way) is owned by the Tata Group. In the morning I drink Tata coffee from Tata porcelain and have fresh orange in a Tata glass. There are Tata cars on the road (small and affordable), Tata shows on television (through their join up with Sky), even Tata products in space. They do everything from advanced composites (A) through to Wood Products (W) and everything in between (I'm sure if I looked online I would find something beginning with Z).  

The Tata group was started by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata back in 1868. He worked for his father in a banking firm but set himself up as an entrepreneur allowing Indians to take up higher studies and work in the business. He was a visionary who looked after his work force, introducing the 8 hour day before it was commonplace in the world. The company diversified into all aspects of Indian life and set up education establishments for the betterment of the people.

Today Tata has expanded all over the world, they own the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, Tetley Tea and other well known UK companies. Not bad for a company that is still family owned.

Strange Things

Strange things I've started to notice since being in India.

Cleaning - Whilst there are plenty of people employed in the cleaning industries in India, nothing actually gets any cleaner. Rubbish lorries arrive and take away the litter, but it's still all over the ground. Sweeping takes place in shopping centers and malls, but no one every gets a bucket and mops the floor. Lots and lots of cleaning, lots and lots of mess.

Going beyond the pale - adverts on television for creams that make you paler, or several shades paler (according to the advert). This is not limited to women but to men as well, with this whitening powder added to ointment for ladies and moisturiser for men. A constant desire to change the skin tone. Completely opposite to the UK idea of beauty and getting a tan, to look more colourful not less.

Where is this India, you speak of - still on adverts, the image that is presented on television is a very western style India. The adverts are all set in towns that look nothing like what is outside the window (I'm convinced many of the adverts are shot abroad - possibly the US). This doesn't gel with the generally conservative society, but that is what they beam into everyones homes every night.

Links

• A star went supernova with more than twice the mass needed to ultimately collapse into a black hole. But something weirder happened - the star became a magnetar
• Hermetic Art - The strange creatures of the Russian subway system.
• Plastic becoming part of the ecosystem - Plastic Accumulation in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre
• Post-apocalyptic Tokyo 
• Dave McKean at the Offset Festival last year.
• "The BBC’s extensive archives offer up a veritable literary treasure trove – some 40-odd British writers in their own words, including several notable writers from the SF&F stable such as JRR Tolkien, TH White and John Wyndham..."

Starting Over

Page 100 of 'Cell' didn't happen as I've decided to re imagine the work. I am now back on page 5. Yesterday I realised that the current incarnation just wasn't working. It didn't feel like it was part of the 'Juvie' landscape that I so carefully built up in the first novel, so I've gone back to the beginning and started over. I want to get it right, so I expect this might happen several times.

****

"Researchers at the University of Leeds have employed a robotic yellow submarine to fund and begin documenting a massive river under the sea, known as a submarine channel -- the first ever directly observed." From Engadget.


Probably one of the best sci-fi songs I've ever heard. "This sweetly horny tribute to the work of Ray Bradbury, starring Rachel Bloom as the girl who wants to fuck "the greatest scifi writer in history," is sure to put a smile on your face."

First week in Chennai

I've been in India for a week now and can do nothing but reiterate what you've probably heard a thousand times about this place. It's a strange mix between the traditional and the modern, examples include the new malls that are springing up all over Chennai with their air conditioning, modern shops, cinemas, fast food restaurants, supermarkets that sell western brands all located next to streets that are falling apart, people sleeping rough, constant traffic with horns blaring and cattle walking through the chaos. Gas and electric failures are common, but the internet seems to be offered everywhere, along with Sky satellite TV. Poverty is obvious, but so is great wealth.

All the Indians we've met have been polite, intelligent, interested in the world outside their own country, but at the same time reserved in their actions, but the way they interact between themselves seems markedly different.

It's early days and there is much for me to learn about this country. On Sunday we got to go travel to Mamallapuram with some of Madame Vin's colleagues. This is a land full of temples, stretching out on the flat plains to the south of Chennai. I've included a link to photos below:
http://gallery.me.com/adamjshardlow/100008

Today we've been looking at apartments for the remainder of our stay (can't live in hotels forever, no matter how much I enjoy it). We've seen some which are basic by UK standards but a couple that are very nice. Hopefully, we can get something sorted out soon.

Back to work tomorrow with the aim of hitting page 100 of 'Cell' by Friday.

View from a Chennai Hotel

Just a quick update. A couple of photos from the roof of the hotel. Chennai in all its glory.

Madame Vin had a successful first day at work and I got plenty done on "Cell", the second book in the 'Juvie' trilogy.

Going out for curry tonight.

Welcome to Chennai

I'm installed in my hotel, overlooking Mount Road in central Chennai. It's hot, busy, cacophonous and bizarre. Wealth and real poverty side by side, a modern thriving metropolis but one rooted in ancient cultures, its a mishmash of ideas, thoughts and voices. It's going to be an interesting year.

So far I haven't gone far. A quick trip to a shopping centre through the noisome streets and to the gym (where I made a friend of the trainer and he tried to kill through exercise - which I need to do everyday).

Tomorrow Madame Vin is going on her first visit to the office and I'll start my writing regime.

In the mean time, some links:

• A biomechanical world in this stunning video
• Supernatural is getting the Anime treatment.
• "Migrating Floating Gardens" by Rael San Fratello Architects.
• A 'Super Sad True Love Story' from Gary Shteyngart "we live in such a fast-paced society that the moment you want to write about something, that instant is gone. The only way to capture the present is to write about the future."
• The age of the book is coming to an end. 
• And now that I'm India for a year, Kate Griffin has made me a little home sick for Edinburgh.

I'll try to put up some photos tomorrow.

India Tomorrow

So I'm off to India tomorrow morning. That happened a lot quicker than I expected. 'Juvie' is in and my agent likes it. That doesn't mean a publishing deal is guaranteed but it's a step in the right direction. Over the next year I want to concentrate on books 2 and 3 in the same series and start the new version of 'The Park'.

I'll keep this blog updated with my travels, work and news, and perhaps the odd photo of India.

It's gonna be one hell of an adventure.

See you on the other side.