Chennai Times

On the way to office this morning saw two hoardings side by side that made strange reading: 'Infrastructure will change India' said the first one (HDFC Infrastructure Fund, I think) and ' to change exchange ' said the mobile shop ad. bang next to it!!! What are being exchanged in the name of infrastructure in India!!

Mark the calender with these events: 1. Launch of ReStore - a group of people coming together to promote more environmental friendly ways of living in this mad city. 2. Exhibition of Kumbam terracota arts and crafts at Kalakshetra. both announcements below. --------------------------------------------------------------- eStore health * livelihoods * nature We are delighted to invite you to the Launch of reStore with a Celebration of Traditional Foods at *Shastri Nagar Welfare Association Hall *(Tel: 2446 0822) 18/11 5th Cross St., Shastri Nagar Adyar Chennai 600 020 On *Saturday, February 16th 2008, 5.30 to 8.00pm* *Please contact reStore for your dinner passes* http://restore.org.in Tel: 94441 66779 or 98844 09566 reStore ( http://restore.org.in ) is a new community organization of people interested in activities that promote healthy living, sustainable livelihoods and conservation of nature. reStore is to be inaugurated on Saturday February 16th 2008 at a function in Adyar. The la...

One of the grand old men of scouting in Chennai died recently. Venkatraman, called thatha Venkatraman by almost everyone was one of the leading lights of the movement in the city. He was closely associated with the south madras district scouting movement, children garden school and the besant camping centre that is part of the theosophical society in adyar. An energetic and warm gentleman who was rather sharp with his comments, he left everyone whom he interacted with a sense of care. I grew in scouting days, though never directly under his tutelage. He would visit us all the way from Sholinganallur farm of CG to Madhavaram in his small phut-phut TVS50 those days when chennai had the same roads and lesser traffic. He cared much for his children and ensured that he got to know them as much as possible and always used to enquire about everyone he though you know about when he met you. A scout is supposed to be many things, cheerfulness, care and concern chief among them. Thatha Venkatram...

Interesting findings from discussion on hoardings in another on-line group! This is what the consumer law says regarding obscene hoardings. 4. Posters and hoardings containing obscenity and vulgarity attracts Section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women( Prohibition) Act, 1986. Any depiction of the figure of a woman; her form or body or any part thereof in such way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating women, or is likely to corrupt the public morality amounts to Indecent Representation of Women. ( Complaints should be given directly to the Police. ) 5. Section 292 of IPC directly deals with any obscene poster, book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation, figure etc. The material shall be deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect...

I normally avoid criticism of individual talent in this blog. But, having been a unfortunate spectator to the disaster in programme compere talent of Suchi (popularly known as Mirchi RJ Suchi) I had to blog her. On line write-ups call her one of the best RJs, perhaps she is. I am not an avid FM follower, but, Suchi, or more precisely her voice was pointed out to me by none other than Organic Krishnan, who claimed at that time to be her fan (and has since then denied it)! I heard her screaming saucy voice quite a few times, particularly while travelling in crowded and overstuffed autos in Chennai suburbs. As far as I could make out, she spoke a universalized chennai tamil, no local dialect and generally seemed to converse in a backdrop a non-stop giggle. Her indulgent tone towards phone-callers to the programme is probably a rule for all such RJs. But, she on stage as the master of ceremonies (or comperer) is a nightmare, particularly if you are the organizer. I watched her do an enter...

Have been wanting to write this for some time now. I pass by on section of the road used by the CM about half an hour ahead of him everyday. Without fail I observe a series of thin, scrawny, women constables who decorate both sides of the road at equal intervals. They are everywhere, even on top of the flyover. The special white badge that police personnel in the CM route have to wear adorns their uniforms. My question is what are they doing in the hot sun? They are not controlling any crowds, on a normal day there are no crowds to cheer the CM in every street corner. They are not certainly regulating traffic, this we have important looking traffic cops who can appear in the roadside just a few minutes before the CMs convoy appears, shout, scream, shriek and ensure that the traffic is frozen till the convoy leaves and just as swiftly disappear after the stipulated number of seconds they are supposed to hold the traffic frozen. But, the poor women constables arrive well in advance and h...

Full Story at: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/from-tomorrow-no-chaat-on-chennais-marina-beach/48055-3.html?xml Chennai: Mustafa has been selling chaat on Chennai’s Marina Beach for around two years now. But Mustafa, a familiar face for regulars at the beach, will no longer be able to sell delicacies here. That is because the Chennai Corporation's deadline for encroachers to move out of the Marina Beach ends on Wednesday. “Since my childhood I have done this job. I don’t know anything else,” Mustafa said. The around 400 shops which have come up on the beach in the past two years are the ones being targeted but those which have been here for a long time will be spared. “This is being done only to make the beach more clean,” Chennai Mayor M Subramanian said. The state government and the Chennai Corporation are undertaking a major beach beautification drive. They plan to spend Rs 35 crore on making the beaches of Chennai clean and people friendly. So, soon people will be able to sit on b...