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PREPARE A CITY THAT CAN SURVIVE FUTURE EXTREME WEATHER

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  CHENNAI - PREPARE A CITY THAT CAN SURVIVE FUTURE EXTREME WEATHER Obviously, this article is triggered by the Michaung cyclone that hit the city in the first week of December 2023. However, it is a summary of my remembered experience that pans 4 decades of the city.   I have forever lived in Chennai and it is my home. I have lived in the central Chennai Triplicane during schooling, moved up to Madhavaram in North Chennai during my youth and later moved south to Velachery and now live in Besant Nagar. Over the past 5 decades of my memory in this city, the last two decades are quite striking for the consistent natural disasters that I have witnessed. I have written this article in parts, first as my own experience as someone going through the several experiences of floods over the years in this city, the second part of it is about the struggles of activism and policy making in the building of the city that is today and the last part is to give an idea about how all things can be changed
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Madras Day - Aug 22nd 2020: The City that reaches out...

When Ilayaraja was our breath music,  We embraced Rahman as it tucked out heart strings Yet we didn't give up Raja, MSV or the 100 before and since Vishy is our Grand Master, but, Dhoni is our adopted boss That's why he can give up being Indian captain  But can't leave the city team   The colonial Central is our entry space and Then we built a Koyambedu as large as it gets and speedy Metro The city prefers to saunter slow in the Marina We may rub shoulders with Nobels, Oscars, Champions Scientists, Teachers, Thinkers and Masters, and we do so But the lingo and spirit is set by our auto-drivers and fishermen Its not  what we built or what we achieved That gives the city its flair or fervour, its the uniqueness  Of reaching out the the world and within We reach out if it quakes in Gujarat or floods in Himalayas We reach out if cyclone hits Odisha or landslide in Kerala We reach out because that's our spirit To reach out is an extension of what we are within A world of a c
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Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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the day chennai turned communal...

later added: the incident narrated is most likely around 1987.  last year during the chennai week i read articles by several people who have lived and worked in Chennai at different times and i promised that perhaps if time permits this year i will write and share some reflections on chennai...this is a long ramble about chennai, i decided that i will not edit this and continue to ramble as far as i can and then post! read it if you are 70s chennai kid and want to re-live some memories... However, after writing much of the ramble usual memories partly crowded with nostalgia and partly crowded with recounting ones own story, i decided to write on top the most dramatic visual of chennai that has made a deep mark in me - The Day Chennai turned communal  - ...it was one of those Sundays when we all hung around after the rover scout classes, played basket ball, then planned for one thing or the other that we do at the big street in triplicane where we all went to school. somehow why
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My Music Season Calender for 2014

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மத்திய சென்னை வாக்காளர்களுக்கு ஒரு வேண்டுகோள்!

மத்திய சென்னை வாக்காளர்களுக்கு ஒரு வேண்டுகோள்! மத்திய சென்னை பாராளுமன்ற தொகுதியானது - அண்ணா நகர், துறைமுகம், ஆயிரம் விளக்கு, வில்லிவாக்கம், எழும்பூர், சேப்பாக்கம் மற்றும் திருவல்லிக்கேணி என்கின்ற சென்னையின் சில முக்கியமான பகுதிகளை கொண்ட ஒரு தொகுதி.  ஏறத்தாழ 12 லட்சம் வாக்காளர்களாகிய நீங்கள் சென்றமுறை  நாடாளுமன்றத்தில் உங்களையும், உங்கள் உணர்வுகளையும் எழுப்ப தகுதியானவர் என்று திரு. தயாநிதி மாறன் அவர்களை தேர்ந்தெடுத்து அனுப்பினீர்கள். சென்றமுறையும்,  அவர் தாத்தாவும், மாமாவும் உங்களிடம் ஆதரவு கேட்டனர். "அவர் ஆங்கிலம் நன்றாக பேசுவார்" என்பதினாலேயே அவரை டில்லியில் குடும்ப பிரதிநிதியாக அனுப்ப உங்கள் வோட்டுக்களை உபயோகப்படுத்தினர். அவர் நாடாளுமன்றத்தில் விவாதித்த நாட்களோ அல்லது உங்களுக்காக குரல் கொடுத்த நாட்களோ மிக சொற்பம். குடும்ப பிரச்சனைக்காக அவர் வேலை அதிகமாக செய்ததாகவே தெரிகின்றது.  இதன் முத்தாய்ப்பாக, தனது சகோதரர் கொம்பனிக்கான தொலைபேசி, இவர் மந்திரி பதவியை உபயோகப்படுத்தி இலவசமாகவே உபயோகித்ததும், இந்த ஊழல் வெளியே தெரிந்ததும், பதவி விலகியதும் நாம் அனைவரும் அறிந்ததே. உங்க
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Chennai - the Indian Detroit - what lessons?

சென்னை  மாநகரத்தை இந்திய   'டெட்ரோயடு' என்று   மார்தட்டி வந்தவர்கள் இப்போது என்ன சொல்வார்கள்?  Billions in Debt, Detroit Tumbles Into Insolvency source:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/us/detroit-files-for-bankruptcy.html?pagewanted=all ...Detroit expanded at a stunning rate in the first half of the 20th century with the arrival of the automobile industry, and then shrank away in recent decades at a similarly remarkable pace. A city of 1.8 million in 1950, it is now home to 700,000 people, as well as to tens of thousands of abandoned buildings, vacant lots and unlit streets. “The worst thing we can do is ignore a problem,” said Sandy K. Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “We’re finally executing a fix.” ...a major concern for Detroit residents remains the possibility that services, already severely lacking, might be further diminished in bankruptcy. About 40 percent of the city’s streetlights do not work, a report from Mr. Orr’s office
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