Chennai Times

I work out of Mylapore and love this local festival, gypsies, small traders of many odd trinklets that change the buzzing city into a simple village mall that it once could have been. The life and energy of the people and their participation and percievable joy benumbing the high rise that have come up all around of large prohibitive commercial establishments. This is the ordinary people's festival, most things you can buy cost less than Rs. 10/-, whole lot of free food distribution and amidst all these buzzing activities the 63 nayanmars find their safety and security for their annual serenade. This is Jai Ho Chennai!

The news of a small boy falling from terrace because a pet dog chased him is terrible. There are many questions arising out of these. In 6 months, we have had two cases of fully loaded lorries backing up narrow streets squeezing the life out of two people in the process. Last week there was the case of another weird accident on the road side...is Chennai's careless civic life proving to costly? We are all lacklustre to mutual safety norms till we are knocked down, literally. Can something be done? 

Ambedhkar & Mayawati almost resemble Armstrong, the BSP leader in Chennai. All along the north chennai walls you will find this grafitti. Wall paintings are more fun than the flex which just reproduces the original, the small distortions, the wanton changes to facial structure and dramatic colours all render the street walls into art galleries during a heavy political season.

The following is a message from eFarm, an initiative by Venkat, a young person from Mylapore. One more Organic initiative that needs to be patronized by the citizens of this city starting in the same area where many others are already there. Here is wishing O4 success. ram --------------------------------- the image is Venkat displaying some organic products during the launch  of Community Access, Oct 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi All, We are happy to announce the launch of 'O4' . Pronounced (Oh-Fore)  it is eFarm's 'Organic Farm Produce' division  and would be focusing on 100% organically grown items . Besides acting as a sourcing and supply agent for other organic stores and buyers in the city, O4 would also be running a weekend bazaar at Valmiki Nagar/Thiruvanmiyur beach. You can spot the eFarm van on the walker's path adjoining the Valmikinagar beach. The store would be open on Saturdays and Sundays...

The Tamil Heritage group cordially invites you and your friends to the programme of this month featuring a talk titled " HINDU ART AND RELIGION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA " by Dr R Nagaswamy on 7th February (Saturday) 2009 at 05.00 pm at Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya Campus, 58 Venkatanarayana Road, T.Nagar, Chennai 600 017 ------ About the Talk Hinduism and the Hindu art are not confined to India alone. Their influence can be felt in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia etc, that is, almost the whole of Southeast Asia and to a great extent even in China and Japan. They can be found to survive in modified form even in the Balkan states in the West bordering Caspian Sea. Hindu culture did not go to all these places as a conqueror destroying the local culture and life, imposing its own will on all people, but formed a natural part of their life. This talk assisted by pictures will show how this culture prevailed in all aspects of Southeast Asian countrie...