Here's a quick list of observations from a recent trip to Chennai and Kerala. 1) First time noticed more posters of Karthik Sivakumar than Surya. He was all over the place - posters on local trains, bus stops and hoardings. Definitely looks much better now. 2) Hubby and me did the 5-second testing on the roads; no, not the bacteria, it's the honking. You're guaranteed a honk in atleast every 5 seconds, if not sooner. And it really didn't matter which part of Chennai we were in. 3) More metro construction mess all over the city, many areas still without real roads-- enough to give you a feeling you're riding a horse. 4) No shortage of mini Ganapathy temples in every nook and corner. 5) More malls in the city, checked out the City center one by the beach, had a beach view for food court area which was pretty cool. 6) As seen since the early 2000s, people are still spending a lot on foreign gadgets, foreign-branded food and cosmetics. Not to mention, no c...