Many Hyderabadis would have seen the Adlabs hoardings and posters at the GS 24 Carat Building in Ameerpet (erstwhile Gold Spot building, now Big Bazaar). Having not gotten the required clearance to open up to the public yet (PVR itself has only 3 screens open to public!), the Adlabs Multiplex remained yet another pipe dream for the moviegoers in Hyderabad. But now, speculation is rife that the multiplex may open to the public with the release of Pawan Kalyan starrer Jalsa.
I was at big bazaar earlier today and there was considerable talk going around that the multiplex would be opened on the 2nd of April. Indeed, I did hear few people asking the lift-man and the guards about whether the news was true or not! The staff though, did claim they had no idea about it. And I kinda think that this was all idle-talk. Adlabs is one of the biggest media-houses in the country today and I’m sure they wouldn’t open up their multiplex without adequate publicity and hype. There would have to be posters over the city, advertisements in local media, announcements over the FM channels and all that hoopla and as long as there is nothing of that sort, we can rest assured that there still is some time for the grand opening!!! Peace.
but such matches are not to be missed! So I ordered home delivery of dinner and tuned into ESPN for the back-to-back telecasts of the matches. First up was Man U Vs. Liverpool match and though it was lively in parts, it was all one-sided as Man U were the only attacking team. They went ahead through an unlikely goal from Wes Brown in the 34th minute. The match sparked up with the sending off of Mascherano for dissent and 10-man Liverpool could only haplessly watch as Christiano Ronaldo and Nani thumped in two goals within two minutes late in the second half to give Man U a 3-0 win and a six-point lead over Arsenal in the table.
It was a day of Ferrari resurgence at the Sepang circuit in the Malaysian Grand Prix as the scarlet team came storming back after their disappointing showing in Australia. And the victor was Kimi Raikkonen who started from P2 behind teammate Felipe Massa and who led the race from the end of his first pitstop onwards. But it was a bittersweet victory for Ferrari as Massa spun out on lap 31 into the gravel while trailing Kimi and that put paid to a 1-2 finish that looked so likely. The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were penalised 5 grid places for impeding other cars in qualifying and though they tried hard to fight their way back up the grid, they had to rely on superlative pitstops and other teams’ misfortune to move up the grid. BMW had another strong race as Robert Kubica finished in 2nd place and the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen finished 3rd. Jarno Trulli managed to hold off Hamilton towards the last laps take the 4th place. Nick Heidfeld finished 6th and also had the fastest lap of the race in the last lap! Mark Webber finished 7th and taking the final point was the Renault of Fernando Alonso.
The first thing we searched for in T Nagar was a Saravana Bhavan 
. It is arguably Chennai’s finest eatery chain and defines South Indian Food like no one else does. If Kamat rules in Bengalooru and Dhabas rule in Punjab, Saravana Bhavan lords over in Chennai. But before we could hit upon Saravana – the eatery, we chanced upon Saravana Stores – the Shoppery! There was this 7-storeyed building on the Usman (?) Road that looked so imposing (and inviting) and we promptly trooped in. And boy….was it a Shopping Mall or what!!! It had almost everything under its roof. Of Course, it can’t have everything in it but close to 90% of a common man’s needs would be available within. Housed within its seven floors were clothes, groceries, toys, stationary, cosmetics, garments, readymades, hosiery, sarees, dress materials, food items, beverages, electronic goods, sports equipment, footwear, party accessories, imitation jewellery, watches, mobile phones, cd’s, music cassettes and whatnot! And all of those at really low prices. Most of the articles were sold at a good 30-40% below their MRP. It may not be as sophisticated or fashionable as the Centrals and the Lifestyles and Shoppers’ Stops but when it comes to value-for-money, nothing comes even close. I imagined how a bunch of shopping-hungry ladies would feel once they’re left free inside this behemoth and had a faint chuckle over that thought. If they excel at the prices and the variety, their biggest letdown is the customer service, which is pathetic to say the least. None of the more-than-a-hundred-staff-members were half as cordial and helpful as those in the other malls. Questions were often met with sharp retorts in Tamil and that too in an un-interested way. But I guess since the sales are so huge in spite of that, they’re choosing to neglect that aspect. 
. So if the next time you’re in Chennai and are looking to pickup some cheap stuff and also kill some time while you’re at it, you can head over to Saravana Stores.
