Mercury rising!

Yet another sweltering summer morning stretches lazily across the city, peppering the pavements with impressively balanced tender-coconut and watermelon pyramids. Perspiration seems to be Chennai’s most-popular pastime and resigned sighs are heard almost everywhere even as the day boots up – almost being the operational word here, for we do have some significant exceptions…

In a children’s home tucked away in the city, volunteers are accosted by a bevy of energetic kids all clamouring for their attention, eagerness brimming over in their smiles. Voila, the typical welcome that precedes class at any of the several MAD centres in Chennai! For these children and their volunteer Akkas and Annas, soaring temperatures are easily forgotten in the shared energy that English class brings.

This refreshing experience of finding joy in learning through MAD is orchestrated in Chennai by a core team that not only believes the glass is half full, but also orders some chocolate cake to go with the yummy milkshake that’s no doubt in the glass. Now it looks like the team’s invaded this blog to say hullo and to offer you a slice of not the cake – alas! – but their lives. Come on, let’s go talk to them! *beckons readers over*

Here’s Vaishnavi Srinivasan. She’s the president of the Chennai team.

Hey Prez! *waves*

Don’t call me President! It reminds me of Prathiba Patil, and I hope I’m nothing like her! she exclaims.

So we’ll obligingly call her Vaish, hm? *whispers* Her friends prefer to call her Teacher Amma, though, referring to her tough work ethic!

Special skills/interests: Is a pro in extreme sports like Facebooking and cooking! Her ambition is to become the country’s best plump chef (part of this has already come true – the italicized part! )

Oh look, there’s the perennially busy Anantha Padmanabhan, Ananth or Anzee to his friends. He’s in charge of Operations.

Wassup, Ananth! Tell us a bit about yourself before you hurry away on MAD work, will ya?

Well, what do I say?, he wonders aloud. I’m someone who wants to live life to the fullest. Never say die and be the change and all that, yeah, that’s me!

Special skills/interests: Loves birdwatching (the feathered kind, we hope! ), music, reading and writing

Aruna joins in when we’re chatting with Ananth. She’s the spunky girl in charge of HR. She loves her nickname Arunskie and woe to the person who calls her Arun by mistake!

Aruna is the most-consistent revenue provider for CCD with her frequent coffee cravings, and I have a feeling she’s on her way there right now! Let’s ask her! Getting coffee, Aruna?

Oh no, she says and tries to speed away on her candy-pink Scooty. We ask her to introduce herself before she goes and this is what we get: I’m stubborn, talkative and extremely mischievous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Aruna funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Education: The fear of killing innocent lives made her overlook her love for Biology and choose engineering (@ Salem College of Engineering) over medicine!
Work: Been employed with Mahindra Satyam for so long that she’s now virtually a part of the office furniture!
Special skills/interests: She’s a novelaholic, and can spend hours in the company of books

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Come on now, let’s go meet Abdul Hameed, our Corporate Relations Officer and Ravi Kumar, the most Resource-ful member of the team.

Abdul, the outgoing, happy-go-lucky, and down-to-earth maddie, appreciates and loves the fact that he learns a lot from his children. Don’t let his (inexplicable) pose in the photo fool you! This man knows how to balance fun and professionalism with perfect poise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Abdul funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Education: MBBS from Madras Medical College
Work: Clinical Resource Consultant *wonders what on Earth that is!*
Special skills/interests: Movies, music, long drives, experimenting with new cuisines (this possessor of a mouthful of sweet teeth loves Pastries with a capital P!)

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Ah, now I introduce you to one of MAD Chennai’s oldest volunteers (not in terms of service, but age )! Ravi believes that he is too complex to be defined in a few words. You’ll find a bit of everything in me, he avers. Maybe we should call him Avial Ravi, then! Through MAD I’ve understood that life’s more than work and money, he says. Hear, hear!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Ravi funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Education: Engineering from Utkal University, Orissa (Don’t ask more about this, he says)
Work: At Wipro Technologies (B-o-r-i-n-g, he yawns)
Special skills/interests: Movies, reading, cooking (his yum brinjal-and-sambar combo is legendary – as in we’ve heard a lot about it but nobody has proof of its existence ), and assembling *destroying?* computers.

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Trailing behind them all in a rather scatterbrained way is Meenakshi Nandhini, the trainer-person in our  team. Nobody believes her claim that she’s an introvert and her extreme verbosity and her weird sense of humour make us all wonder how her kids sit through her classes!

A look into your life, please, Nandu!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Nandu funda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Education: Eight schools and no colleges, she declares with a satisfied grin. As an afterthought she adds: I’m doing my MA Eng. Lit. by correspondence, though, the same way I did my BA. Does that count?
Work: Freelancer at times, but unemployed would be a better label, she muses.
Special skills/interests: She’s curious about everything and has a looooooong list of interests that would obviously bore the eyeballs off you, so we’ll stop here!

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So there! I’ve run out of people to introduce! And typing out this blog post I’ve realised that we’ve quite a few (alleged) good cooks in the team. This certainly calls for a potluck, folks, for the proof of the pudding lies in the eating! We’ll arrange for one soon, I hope. *smacks lips in anticipation*

So ciao for now, co-madsters! Make sure that the next time you visit Chennai you call us early to reserve your tables! Tipping the cooks with candy bars is of course highly recommended!

- Ms. A. N. Ony Mous, MAD Chennai team member