Vincent's Jottings

Malaysian Cinema ; seeking friends in Chennai

2012-01-22T14:34:00.002+05:30

Decorate a traffic island with festoons, string every lamp post with banners, hire a band to play film music and get the word around that film stars will be streaming by and you are guaranteed a huge, milling crowd.
A fortnight ago, I let myself into such a milling crowd and waded into a convention hall of a star hotel in Theagaraya Nagar to be greeted by a dozen film stars, everybody 50 years plus.

I was not here to meet the stars.

I was trying to meet up with a few young film makers from Malaysia.

Prior to this gala, a city-based film society had screened a series of independent Thamizh films which were made and produced in Malaysia.

The screenings had a bigger purpose.

How could the greater Thamizh film industry based in Chennai be of help to a fledging body of creative people in a neighbouring country?

It was by chance that I got talking to a young man who calls himself Krishna. Krishna is the managing director of his entertainment company and he also produces and directs films.

His business covers everything from TV and radio, animation and advertising to event management and New Media.

Thamizh cinema in Malaysia has a small but firm following but the budgets do not allow the space and freedom for young film makers to make films that can rival the ones made in our city.

Despite the constraints, the young filmmakers who once used to primarily produce content for the VCD and the cable channel markets are pushing themselves to make feature films.

Krishna says that the time has come for the Chennai-based community to help collaborate.

"It is but fair that your industry which makes tons of money by selling films rights in the Near East region must think of giving back to film makers like us," suggested Krishna.

This is easily said than done.

The Thamizh film industry is hugely politicized and often polarized too. So country-to-country collaboration will not be easy.

Getting our TV channels to air the films made by Malaysian film makers will not be an easy deal.

Krishna says that when he took the DVD of his recent documentary on Thamizh heritage and customs to a TV channel here, the executives told him they would air it if he gave it for free.

Interact with the ward councillors

2012-01-15T06:42:00.001+05:30

Every month, the elected councillor of your Ward submits proposals to the Chennai Corporation.
These are generally projects that your area requires for its development.
Relaying roads and streets, maintenance of parks and equipment for gyms, painting the sidewalks and repairing public toilets and the like.
Lakhs of rupees are budgeted. And lakhs spent.
For many years now, as part of our commitment to local journalism we have covered local council meetings closely - observing the discussions and publishing the plans of our councillors.
One of the proposals listed against the name of councillor R. Boomi of Ward 125 intrigued us when the list of last month's meeting reached us.
There was a proposal to erect medians on a main road in San Thome for the 'Independence Day' event.
The budget - Rs.1,00,000.
The proposal sounded out of place so we called the woman to check.
"Is that so?", she replied. " I did not know it was a proposal against my name and for my ward."
"But it is listed here clearly", we told her.
"Then I will check with the Corporation official," she said.
Councillor R. Boomi has not got back to us yet.
Elected local reps and civic councils are great examples to hold up for what we claim to be a vibrant democracy. But do we know what really happens at the local level?
Many previous councillors I have interacted with have told me that often, they are warmly coaxed by civic officials to submit projects which mean little to a Ward but sit nicely in their bigger plans.
So you get a string of gyms or a set of public loos or play equipment for the local park listed for all the Wards.
I suppose it makes it simple and easy to execute them in one go though they may not be useful or required in our Wards.
Do our councillors then really have a voice?
And does this voice echo the needs of a neighbourhood?
In the zones we cover, most councillors are women and many do not have even basic political and civic experience.
You can imagine the situation when their responsibilities roll.
I still have not heard of the Corporation hosting training programs for them or exposing them to the nitty-gritty's of local administration.

I still have not seen many councillors taking initiatives to interact with their communities.

In some Wards, activist-residents have set up face-to-face meetings and are planning follow-ups. This is positive news.

More will have to be done.

Engage your Ward Councillor. Take a look at local civic proposals. Keep an eye on them.

Your responsibility does not end with the casting of the ballot.

Have Elai sapad at a Mylapore traditional house

2012-01-07T15:15:00.000+05:30

This Sunday, I will be looking forward to a call from the Srikanths. The call is important because I will want to know how a simple idea worked that afternoon.
Every edition of the annual Mylapore Festival which got underway on Thursday, presents an idea, an event which could be significant at a bigger level.

The idea of serving guests the traditional 'elai sapad' in a traditional setting.

On Sunday, the Srikanths will hopefully play host to four groups who are booking for lunch at their Madras-tiled house off Devadi Street in Mylapore.

The house, over 100 years old and a vestige of the times when Muslims populated this neighbourhood is a nice setting for people who like going back to the past!

The 'elai sapad' idea was shared by senior IAS officer Sheela Rani Chunkanth, who now heads the TN Handicrafts Corporation. We took it up but it was not easy to get it going. Many people who we wanted to play host were tentative, unsure or simply private.

Such ideas can work only if we are proud of our heritage, are creative and enjoy sharing hospitality with people we may not have met before.

The Srikanths almost pushed us to collaborate. And we hope the idea works. For, if its does then we intend to use this example to motivate a few other families in the heritage zones of Mylapore-Triplicane to offer 'sapad' at lunchtime or 'tiffin' in the evening to people and tourists and showcase what is truly Madras.

Many years ago, we launched the 'mikeless' concerts at Nageswara Rao Park in Luz, as part of the Mylapore Festival. Sundaram Finance, which sponsors our Fest has taken it forward and hosts such concerts once a month at this park. Two other bodies host similar events elsewhere.

The Mylapore Festival then is not just about having 30 events at ten venues across 4 days. It is also about floating ideas, experimenting with small events and envisioning larger projects.

How do we creatively use the Sri Kapali Temple precincts keeping in mind local businesses, traffic flow, residents' interests and surviving heritage so that the outcome is wonderful?

If you have ideas too, do share them.

Kolam contest goes world-wide

2011-12-31T15:16:00.001+05:30

Partying between shopping for kolam maavu and shooting for a film on a painter of kolu dolls may not be the best way to celebrate this season.

But then I do not have an option.

At this time of the year, my team and I is busy seeing through the final acts of the famed December Season of classical music and dance, managing the weekly newspapers and working on the countdown for the annual Mylapore Festival ( this year it is from January 5 to 8 in the precincts of the Sri Kapali Temple, Mylapore. www.mylaporefestival.com).

There is a lot of fun partying this way. I am still unsure what my friend C. K. Murali has in store for New Year's day but I am sure that I will make time between kolam maavu and kolu dolls to get to Murali's place.

We are feeling good just now because some special guests plan to attend the widely-known Kolam Contests which are the flagship events of the Fest, wholly supported by Sundaram Finance.

To recap, a one-hour long Kolam Contest which we hosted in a school playground over a decade ago actually made way for this Festival.

Today, the Kolam Display has caught the attention of people in various parts of the world.

Three guests will be here this year. Chantal is an artist and scholar from France. She has come back for the second time to soak in the December season and to film the kolams.

Dr. Sunita Vatuk is professor at Rutgers Univ. in the USA and will be here to study the kolams and the women who design them.

Deborah Keller-Rihsn is a professor and arts organiser in the USA and she too wants to witness the spectacle as part of her study.

Three weeks ago, I briefed the city's Commissioner of Police, J. K. Tripathy of the importance and the need to permit us to have the 100 kolams displayed on the weekend till late in the evening on North Mada Street.

Fully-lit, these kolams will make a great art display. The display will allow tourists, visitors and guests to enjoy the showcase of a fantastic tradition through the January night.

Much like the flower display in the town square of Ghent in Holland.

If the Kolam Display becomes a reality, it will be wonderful for our city.

Showcase Chennai's art festival

2011-12-25T06:33:00.000+05:30

When Prabhu Edouard was a teenager, the music bug bit him and he made his way to Calcutta to learn to play Hindustani music on the tabla. One big break in his career took him to France.

This past week, Prabhu had the final concert of the India tour of a jazz world music trio he is part of.

The Saiyuki Trio performed at the Alliance Francaise in the city and it was a very interesting concert. Alongside Prabhu was an internationally known guitarist, the French-Vietnamese maestro Ngyeun Le, and Japanese Koto virtuoso Meiko Miyazaki. who plays on the vintage music instrument that is closest to a chitra-vina.

The trio cut an album about three years ago and since then, have been on the road around the world.

After the city concert was over, it was time for Prabhu to catch up, first with his family from Pondicherry, and then with his friends from that town. And that is when I got introduced to this talented musician.

For the next two days, we were his guides to the famed December Season in the city. For, these Paris-based artistes wanted to be at as many Carnatic music concerts as they could.

So they hopped from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in T. Nagar to Indian Fine Arts' show at the Bala Mandir hall, also in T. Nagar and then to The Music Academy and on the next evening, to Kalakshetra campus in Thiruvanmiyur.

Prabhu's day was made when he and his wife took a walk down Elliots Beach, had tiffin at Murugan Idli Shop and walked around the verdant Kalakshetra campus before checking out the concerts there.

Lots of musicians and arts-loving tourists pass through our city this time of the year.

They get a whiff, a sniff, a glimpse of the music and the dance that dominates this metro in December.

But there is hardly a place or a group to turn to for help, guidance and briefing. If there was, hundreds of people would come to enjoy what we have to offer.

It is time artistes, sabhas and the state made a serious effort to showcase this city's unique art festival.

Record oral history

2011-12-17T10:48:00.000+05:30

Professor T. N. Krishnan is an internationally known Carnatic music violinist and a very senior vidwan. His fans are legion. I am one of them.
But there is another reason why I would not miss a meeting or a kutcheri where he is featured.
Prof. Krishnan is a charming raconteur. And he has lots of stories to share and anecdotes to give you.
On Thursday evening, the famed violinist who is in his 80s was decorated at the opening evening of the art festival of the 111-year-old Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha which has its roots in Triplicane but does not have a hall of its own.
At a function held at a community hall tucked away in a street that runs of the well known landmark of Jammi Buildings in Mylapore, Krishnan got into rewind mode.
He took us to the times in the 40s and 50s when Triplicane was the hub of the classical arts, of the days when he rented a little house in a lane off Sri Parthasarathy Temple, of the moods of the temple precincts.
Those days, Parthasarathy Swami Sabha's kutcheris were held at Hindu High School, said Krishnan.
But since the hall was on the top floor all the vidwans had to make an effort to climb up. But greats like Ariyakudi and Semmangudi would all be there half an hour before the concert began which was always at 4.30 p.m.
"We would play for close to four hours", said Krishnan.
We at Kutcheribuzz have begun recording stories that vidwans like Prof. Krishnan share with the audience.
We intend to post these audio clips on the web site (www.kutcheribuzz.com) as we cover the famed December Season of music and dance this year.
Oral histories of the art and the artistes are aplenty and they are shared at many events which allow for talks and exchanges.
Much of it is not documented and the loss is great.
Your parents, grandparents and elders also have stories to share - on art, or on a neighbourhood. Or on lives and people.
Perhaps you may want to record them now.

Indian Christian Art

2011-12-11T11:14:00.001+05:30

What is the colour of temptation?
And of sin?
Purple. And black.
There were 12 framed pieces of art on the wall. Mostly done in crayon. And the 12 pieces were an artist's interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, the widely known Our Father.
Fr. Thamburaj, a Jesuit priest took me through his creation he had worked on for close to a year, keen as he was to see how people looked at his work.
He told me that he himself had seen it differently on one morning when he woke up and looked at the pieces and realised that while the first few pieces were in bright colours, the next few were in deep, dark colours but the series ended positively. Amen!
Father Thamburaj's artworks on the 'Our Father' must be a rare series in this part of the world.
Better known as a passionate preacher, a vocation he pursued after he moved out of Loyola College, this priest is also a artist.
This past week, he and a few others were present at a function held to launch a fantastic book on Indian Christian Art, whose co-author is another well known Jesuit, Fr. A. Amaladass. A book that is possibly the best document on this subject.
The community of Christians who are artists and sculptors is small.
I got to know one many years ago.
A. Alphonso Doss is a senior, well known artist who came from Bangalore in the late 1940s to study at Government College of Art, Madras and went on to become its Principal.
I got introduced to him when a friend wanted a Christian backdrop to a musical he was producing. Since then I have spent time at Alphonso's space in Virugambakkam, a place he chose to go to when PTC buses used to run on red earth paths ploughed through abandoned rice fields and rest under clumps of palm trees.
Every now and then, Alphonso has let me enjoy his 'Christian' works - Jesus washing the feet of a disciple, Jesus breaking bread at the Last Supper, a damsel holding up a lamp, waiting for the Master . .
Alphonso, I suspect is not a regular church-goer but he has his beliefs and even in his advanced age, paints like a man fired up by the Holy Spirit!
Meeting this small group of artists and listening to them was interesting. For, many non Christian artists since the Mughal times have worked on Christian themes. There has been a dialogue. And it seems to continue even today.
Fascinating.
And to be reminded that the stone-carved cross set inside the church atop St. Thomas Mount is a precious piece of Christian art.

Music makes Madras

2011-12-03T09:21:00.001+05:30

If jazz swings you, then you may want to listen to the music of a man who is said to be a big star in distant Norway.
Bassist Arild Andersen has played with many greats and made a name for himself around the world.
This past week, he and his band mates, saxophonist Tommy Smith and percussionist Paolo Vinaccia were here in the city to perform at a few campuses and at the Alliance Francaise before traveling to Auroville and thereafter to the JazzYatra in New Delhi.
Andersen, who is in his late 60s displayed his wizardry at the group's concert at the Alliance and for the audience of about less than a hundred it was an evening to remember.
Here was an opportunity to listen to world class musicians.
I had to skip a Carnatic music concert by the internationally-known violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam to be on time for Andersen's show on the other side of Mount Road. Having enjoyed the music of the violin maestro on many occasions, the choice to head for jazz was the right one.
There is a lot of music in this city of ours.
To be able to listen to a Carnatic music concert at 4 p.m. and then drive to another venue to enjoy a jazz concert at 7 p.m. is heaven's grace for anyone who soaks in the arts, for those who wish to explore music.
December is that time of the year when our city hosts what is perhaps the biggest music festival of its kind anywhere in the world. When dozens of organizations host Carnatic music concerts of the maestros, the stars and the bright talents.
The day starts as early as 7 a.m. with the academic sessions of lectures and demonstrations and progresses into concert after concert that end at 9.30 p.m.
For many connoisseurs, their lives in December are wrapped around this festival. Lots more tie in their holidays with the December season.
For the managers of the arts organizations, there is much at stake in hosting the fests and they go all out to seek sponsors in order to ensure the show goes on.
Very few look up to the state for help and monetary assistance.
This is a wonderful collaboration - of managers, artistes and rasikas - that this city can be proud of.

Local NGOs you can suport

2011-11-27T09:02:00.000+05:30

Nimmu has the land, the spirit and lots of eager children who want to study. But building classrooms has been a struggle.
This community activist who resides in Kotturpuram has done all she can to build a little primary school that can be a warm place for children whose fathers are auto drivers and mothers are maids in the neighbourhood.
For years, Nimmu has managed to run a centre on the fringe of a Slum Board tenements campus on the banks of the Adyar but this journey has been uncertain. And dangerous too - once a bunch of goons attacked the school and threatened this activist.
But Nimmu, who has fought many a civic battle inside courts and outside has not given up.
Now, there seems to be some progress. But she needs money and that is not easy to come by.
"How do you raise funds?" That is the question that is on Nimmu's mind.
It is a question that is also on the mind of another activist. Shekar Raghavan is fairly well-known as the propagator of the rainwater harvesting technique.
For many years now, he has sat on forums, lobbied with government agencies and helped communities set up rainwater harvesting systems in offices, apartments and houses.
Shekar's time and advice comes free. You have to pay for the material and to the men who work to create this facility. Setting up a RWH system does not take much time.
But at the end of the day, Shekar finds that he does not have the funds to keep going. To keep promoting this concept.
A fat donation at the start served him and his team well. Now, the time has come for Shekar to look around for new benefactors.
But the man who resides in Besant Nagar says he is not sure how to generate funds.
"I don't mind begging for support but small help isn't going to be of much use", he says.
Shekar has not sought donations from people whom he has advised and guided on RWH. He says doing this would mar his campaign. He would be happy if corporates chose to support his Rain Centre in Mandaveli.
There are lots of people like Nimmu and Shekar who work on different projects which affect us all. Many will be happy to receive our support.

Remember people who contribute

2011-11-20T08:54:00.000+05:30

Offering a tribute is easy. Remembering a person is not.
Three hours from now, November 18, 3 p.m. I will be at the Memorial Meeting at the Union Christian School in Chetput.
The meeting celebrates the life of a young man who went by the name of Jesson Varghese.
Jesson died in his sleep at his home in Triplicane. He was about 50.
He had been to his doc the previous week for his annual medical check-up and was told that all was well with him.
Days later, I had to stare at an Obituary advert in 'The Hindu'.
I stared and stared at the advert before I called up his sister.
Jesson died less than 10 days after I wrote about him here, in my column. I had written on our relationship with the Mac. Steve Jobs had just passed away.
Jesson was a tad disappointed that he could not push what we had started on many, many years ago. A free-sheeter called 'SideWalker'. He didn't share that disappointment with me. His brother John did share his brother's thoughts when the two of us sat and went down memory lane in the room where the Bishop had blessed Jesson's cold body before it was taken to the cemetery.
As I prepare to share my thoughts of the young man at Union Christian, I wonder if I should tell his friends and the community if we could go beyond the Condolence Meeting to remember Jesson.
Many years have rolled by since another friend of mine passed away. A. J. Desouza was one of the finest athletics coaches this side of the country.
He groomed a legion of athletes who went on to win laurels for themselves.
But AJ, as we and the world knew him did not earn many friends and chamchas for his no-nonsense attitude.
Today, AJ is history. And forgotten. But for some reason I have a sticky thought - that this man needs to be remembered. He deserves it. After all, AJ did a lot for this city's sports community.
Should we host an annual Beach Race in his name? Can we have a trophy or a scholarship awarded at the state level to the best young athlete?
The thought remains - how do we remember ordinary people in our communities who have done extraordinary things?

Role for mentors

2011-11-13T09:48:00.001+05:30

There was a time in my career when I got to watch Thamizh films well before they were released in theatres.
Sometimes at preview halls. Sometimes at post- production time. Sometimes at special screenings.
Those were the days when Rajinikant and Kamal Hassan were strapping heroes gyrating to loud music inside AVM's floors, bashing balding baddies and romancing Madhavi or Ambika on the lawns.
I have moved away from the world of films but have not stopped watching interesting releases.
I wonder if you got to watch 'Vagai Sooda Va'?
I thought it was a good effort. But all the hype around '7aam Arivu' restrained me.
So recently, when I was at a meeting with some 100 young people, I touched on Murugadoss' film.
'Is it interesting enough to watch?, I asked. The feedback was negative. I had made up my mind.
I was not talking about cinema to these young people.
The Mahindra Pride School, located in a huge bungalow in a posh, inner colony in Alwarpet has a mission - to provide basic job skills to young people from economically weak sections and prepare them for employment.
Every season, the School admits over 100 youngsters from the city and outside and trains them in skills required to manage retail stores, communicate at a BPO desk or serve guests in hotels and restaurants.
The task is not easy in this day and time.
One set of young people has preconceived notions and want to live with them. Another set is grappling with the newer challenges in life.
The team of trainers at this campus works hard to deal with these issues even as it holds well-designed training programmes.
To pep up classroom sessions, the School's managers also invite professionals to chat with these young people.
That is how I got here a fortnight ago.
In the course of my interaction, talk and discussion, '7aam Arivu' and 'six-pack bodies' provided the lighter touches to the session.
It was time well spent.
If we look around us, we will realise there are places that will gladly welcome people who wish to share, train or mentor. Make your move.

December Season makes Madras!

2011-11-06T09:01:00.002+05:30

November 1 is All Saints Day in the Catholic Church calendar.
For us at the KutcheriBuzz web site, it is the day on which we informally launch our backend work for the famed December Season.
Letters to clients, meetings with printers, chats with volunteers, alerts to sabhas, e-mails to artistes and the like.
Besides going a tad hyper on our web site, we also publish two guides on the concerts that rasikas might find useful and, for 18 days in December, we bring out a daily free-sheeter that shares the buzz of the 'season'.
( For those who are new to the 'season', the city hosts hundreds of concerts in Carnatic music and classical dance featuring the best and the brightest at over two dozen venues and, with the best and the worst of all that it has come to be, the 'season' is still a unique event).
Working on the fringe has its rewards.
It took us years to convince sabhas to share with us their concerts schedule so that the info could be made public well in advance to allow visitors to plan their travel.
We also promoted the BB ( bed and breakfast) concept amongst local householders for the 'season' when we got queries from rasikas outside Madras.
Most visitors head to the Woodlands Hotel or to Hotel Karpagam since they are well located but there are rasikas who would love to have a cosy space of their own in the heart of Mylapore!
Over the years, a few fringe events are also taking place during the 'season'. Film screenings, seminars, tours and the like. And these are bound to enrich the package that Madras has to offer in December which is possibly the best time of the year to be here!
For some reason, the state has not made the best of the Dccember Season though M. Karunanidhi did make a grand statement once, when he was in power, that the 'season' would be promoted well.
Staging a dance fest in Mamallapuram, a concept that was launched by some senior, international dancers many years ago is alright.
But doing simple things like launching promos, organising guided tours and offering tips at tourist destinations should draw more people to this city for the 'season'.
After all, the December Season also makes Madras.

Monsoon in Madras

2011-10-30T07:57:00.001+05:30

If you choose to ignore the rotting garbage climbing on the broken Neel Metal Fanalca bin at the street corner and the vile-looking cables lying naked in the half-done drains on the roadside and look at the plant and animal life as the monsoon breaks out, there are little things to be enjoyed this season.

From terrace tops, you may sight the first flight of birds heading south.

The skies take on different forms too and the images become solid and severe as the rain-bearing clouds either hang above you deliberately or sail into the horizon taking their bounty to a land that must have sinned that much less!

I sighted a formation on Deepavali morning that looked like an elephant which was watching the celebrations down below, quite amused.

At the foot of the trees, a few worms crawled under the dead leaves and a gurgling sound echoed from the large wells that were sunk in the ground to tap the rainwater of this season.

I peeped through the small openings of the well and could scarcely see the water level but when the sun came out, a silvery reflection from down below told me that that this well would be able to take a lot more rainwater this November.

That night, we opened a window to gaze at the lightning, heralded by the roll of thunder. Would the flash find its way into the bedroom and look for overworked souls? Or could we tease it of its limited reach?

The hourly news bulletin entered its nth loop on the abandoned telly. There was the weatherman at his desk, in his turkey-towel covered chair, leaning at the mikes of the TV reporters.

'There may nor may not be rain tomorrow. There will be thunder and lightning followed by rain here and there . . .

We laughed at the prediction.

That night, the elephant in the skies came down. It lost its way, slipped into the open drain and got entangled in the cables.

Let's work with ward councillors

2011-10-23T08:58:00.001+05:30

Why is your 'Letters' page so dull and boring?
It was a question from a well-wisher and reader who resides off the East Coast Road.
'Every time I turn to that page it is always full of letters on garbage and bins, roads and flooding, mosquitoes and barking dogs', he continued.
The easy way to defend myself would have been to suggest that most readers assume that the 'Letters' page is meant exclusively to highlight civic and local problems.
Or perhaps, our readers do not get inspired enough to share an experience of a walk down the Elliots Beach in Besant Nagar or on 'discovering' stone craft inside the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore.
Or perhaps, readers believe that posting civic issues in widely-circulated and respected newspapers could get some attention.
Whatever be the content, letters are always welcome and given priority at our Desk. And we do know that they trigger some reactions, sometimes positive.
As the results of the elections to the Chennai Corporation council come in and a certain trend seems clearly evident even as I write this, I am trying to see how letter writers and local area councillors could play a more pro-active role in the five years ahead.
There is a community of people which shoots off complaints or throws suggestions and expects the elected and the officials to get a job done.
And there is a community which does not care a thing.
But for the people of our neighbourhoods who do care a bit, there is an opportunity to get involved in many different ways in your area.
Most people who have now become councillors of your wards may not have even raised a finger in community life. Some may be people who got the ticket and the 'yes' vote because the ward is reserved for women and the man who aspired for the ticket did the second best.
In many wards, you are going to have councillors who have little to do with grass root politics and are hardly aware of a councillor's rights and responsibilities.
And yet, if a few good men and women in each ward step forward today and form a group which can work alongside the just-elected councillor, things can change.
Discussing key local issues, drawing projects, lobbying for funds, creating links with local communities and auditing civic projects and services are some of the many things that people of a ward can do.
It is one thing to dash of a letter to the councillor asking him or her to get the garbage at your street corner cleared and another to be part of a group that draws up a garbage clearance plan and helps to keep it in place.
Imagine the positive impact a neighbourhood group and a councillor working together can have on local affairs.

October 17 is voting day!

2011-10-16T08:35:00.000+05:30

Three days ago, I received a call on my cellphone.
The caller introduced himself as A. K. Moorthy of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).
I could not recognise the caller.

There are only two people from the PMK that I know fairly well.
One man used to be the chairman of the Adyar-based Chennai Corporation zone. He recently contested in the state Assembly election and lost.

The other is our contractor for the annual 'Mylapore Festival', the man who puts up the stages, stalls and pandals in the Sri Kapali Temple zone every mid-January.
I then realised that I was listening to a smart, recorded message from the PMK's Chennai Mayoral candidate, A. K. Moorthy.

The party's Anbumani Ramadoss calls him Action King Moorthy. There is some credence to that localised honorific. Moorthy is said to be pretty good at getting things done.
Many railwaypeople will tell you stories of how this man who used to be a Union railway minister got many projects moving for this part of the country.

Moorthy's political graph dipped these past years and now he seeks my vote and yours to be the city's Mayor.
His message was sharp and clear that morning. But I was not impressed. Anybody who says he will get rid of mosquitoes, clean up the garbage and address growing traffic problems is on to a beaten track and a tad dull for the city of Chennai that is Madras.

Our candidates for the post of local councillors say the same thing.
Not that these are not core issues that confront a neighbourhood. But surely, there are smart ways of setting a local agenda in a local election.

On October 17, you will have the opportunity to vote for your Ward Councillor as well as the city Mayor.
If you are serious, this is your best opportunity to get involved a little more in grassroot democracy.

The ballot is important. Casting it will need 30 minutes of your time. But if you think that the ballot can get rid of mosquitoes, garbage and potholes then I would advise you to go off on a weekend holiday to Yelagiri or to Bangalore.

Voting is just part of a process. The more important part is of playing some role in contributing to local governance.

Suggesting ideas and plans. Creating spaces for the elected to interact. Looking at civic budgets and following-up on projects. Civic audit. Lobbying. Campaigning. Collaborating.

Mac made our newspapers possible

2011-10-08T11:08:00.000+05:30

Apple's home page greets us when we open some of our Macs at our office. It is a default page alright but it does not irk me at all.

Today, the image of the man who changed the face of technology greeted me.

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple had passed away earlier in the day and Apple was paying tribute to him in that iconic signature that it has been celebrated for for ages now.

To me, Apple is part of the reason why we are here. It was the enabler for a bunch of us who were keen on publishing in our college days, in the early 80s.

Today, I work on Macs and these computers have made it possible for me to reach out to you for the past two decades.

In the summer of the late 80s, I joined Jesson Verghese at his small desk in a bylane that runs off Wallajah Road, a stone's throw from the Chepauk cricket stadium and a street away from the famed Nair's Mess.

Jesson had signed off from the Indian armed forces to help his aging Dad at his printing press and was keen to publish 'something small', while the publishing itch I had developed in school had got under my skin.

Keeping us company as we scribbled, planned and groaned in Jesson's office was a little Mac whose monitor was as small as the Samsung Tab that is being hawked today.

Jesson tells me that it was a Mac LC made for the South Asian market and that he paid Rs.4.75 lakhs for the Mac and a printer. It was a princely sum for an entrepreneur in a Triplicane nook but it made our work so easy and simple that design and pre-production were the least of our worries.

It was that little Mac that helped launch 'StreetWalker', a city-based free-sheet periodical that ran for a few years before circumstances forced Jesson and me to go our ways.

Some years later, in 1993 when I worked on the 'dummy' for the first set of free neighbourhood weeklies, 'Adyar Times' and 'Anna Nagar Times', compatriot K. S. Ramakrishnan provided us a set of Macs.

Since then, the Macs have been an integral part of my publishing life.

They have given us the freedom, the choice, the facility and the wonderfulness to publish from a simple desk for a small community, at a time when most people assumed that newspaper publishing was the domain of the Jains and the Mahavishnus. Desk Top Publishing was made real.

Thank you, Steve Jobs!

This column came off a ten-year-old iMac in Bondi blue!

Youth Report for Local Newspapers!

2011-10-01T10:32:00.001+05:30

It was a Sunday evening in January last year. We were leading a small group of children on a Mylapore PhotoWalk through the lanes of this neighbourhood.
The event was part of the annual Mylapore Festival supported by Sundaram Finance.
As we wandered down Ponnambala Vadyar Street which is packed with little shops that sell religious needs and flowers and garlands, a blip burst out of the skies and as it careened downwards, it blew into a spiral of expanding smoke.
One of the boys in our group, aimed his camera and kept shooting at the happening. People gathered around him. And then we realised that the space rocket launch at Sriharikota scheduled that evening had failed. And the development had been photographed by a young student in a bylane of Mylapore.
For many years now, our neighbourhood newspapers have been doing a little bit to encourage teenagers to report and write for us.
Our idea is to get them to go out into colonies, get acquainted with the people, the nooks and the institutions, try out their communication skills, jot down facts and come home and file a report.
If the reports are newsy and timely, they are considered for publication in our newspapers.
We also encourage teenagers who like to shoot pictures or illustrate a feature we may do.
This is our annual programme which we have tied into Children's Day. While the selected children can work through 4 weeks, their reports are published in our November issues.
Some children have made the best of this opportunity and used their by-lined reports to gain admission to media schools. Some have produced this file and got jobs after graduation.
The experience of joining a policeman on his late night beat or talking to Navaratri doll hawkers on the mada veedhis or spending time at a Home for elders is certainly exciting for children who love to write real time.
This opportunity is open once again. At the Adyar Times, Mylapore Times and Arcot Road Times. (advertisements in the current issue should provide the info).
Grab it. And make the best of it, my young friends!

Chennai Corporation Poll 2011: Want to Contest?

2011-09-24T18:29:00.002+05:30

It is over four months since Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) were elected. But the man who represents the Velachery Assembly constituency still has not opened an office this side of the area, in Adyar.
M. K. Ashok of the AIADMK has his base in Velachery. A few local associations there were quick to invite him over for a meet, share their woes and get some assurances.
To be fair to Ashok, he has also toured the leeward side of his zone but only when some civic-minded residents badgered him.
He promised to open an office in Thiruvanmiyur two months ago. That has not happened. The Assembly sessions must have kept him busy. Crossing the chaotic Vijayanagar terminus is also a bother!
However, his party colleague who got elected from Mylapore, R. Rajalakshmi not only carved an office space at a local Corporation complex but also publicised her new e-mail address.
Is some one out there maintaining a MLA Report Card?
The process of elections to local civic bodies has just begun.
You and I will be called to choose our local councillors, the men and women who can talk for us on local issues at the Corporation's Council and get things done.
Political parties have already got into the act and their caravans will soon be criss-crossing our neighbourhoods.
This time, with Greater Chennai a reality, urban panchayats/municipalities have been brought under the civic body and hence, residents of these areas (like the ECR) will also vote for their councillors.
Are we thinking of encouraging civic-minded people, elders and activists to stand in this grassroot -level poll?
They say there is no space for candidates who are not backed by or are from political parties?
Should this discourage young people and seniors who have been at the forefront of activism on issues like waste disposal, water harvesting, beach restoration and law and order?
Projects worth many crores of rupees are suggested by a councillor during the five-year tenure. Much of this is actually 'advised' by the civic body and is not the choice of residents of that ward.
In some cases, the councillor is hardly seen in the ward.
This is the time for committed people of the area to stand up and throw the cap in the ring.
By the way, your ward number has changed. Info is available at the Chennai Corporation's web site.

Chennai Traffic Police on Facebook

2011-09-17T22:36:00.000+05:30

Chennai City Traffic Police became Facebook-y recently.
There are posts on traffic snarls, bus breakdowns and diversion alerts.
And there are leads to data on fines, new initiatives and what the CTTP is thinking of doing in future.
Stern, stiff and critical messages of the public are also allowed.
But the most welcome feature is to invite the public to shoot a picture of a traffic violation or a related problem and post it here and I am told the men in khaki and white are acting on the reported violations.
On Sept.14, Ramanathan Srinivasan posted a photo to record a ‘No Parking’ violation near Sutherland in Velachery at peak hour time.
J. P. Benoy Paul of Adyar posted a picture of the pavement alongside Ambika Appalam and Nilgiris stores in Kasturba Nagar to demonstrate the conditions pedestrians have to face in our city.
There is a very serious problem that Mylaporeans are enduring the past months. A problem created by the now ‘one-way’, now ‘two-way’ and ok, now ‘one-way’ systems of the CTTP.
These policies affected Alwarpet, Abhiramapuram, Raja Annamalaipuram, Luz and Mylapore.
Today, all ‘one way’ rules in the neighbourhood are generally flouted at every junction.
More serious, many people have been brushed, knocked down or injured for no fault of theirs by cyclists, bikers and cars who care a damn. The worst affected are our seniors.
So we at ‘Mylapore Times’ are mulling over an idea that should help bring to book the violators and lead to some order in these zones.
We will shoot photos of the violators, jot down their vehicle registration numbers and publish them online and in the newspaper.
The first step has been taken in this issue of ‘Mylapore Times’, in the ‘Letters’ column.
Local newspapers in the West do just this. It helps a thin police team haul up violators.
We want your comments and ideas on this move. Meanwhile, I have posted this idea on the CTTP Facebook page. I am hoping Sanjay Arora, the Addl. Commissioner will also comment.

Use public spaces!

2011-09-10T10:12:00.001+05:30

He took out a Givency box from his cotton bag, opened it to take out five photo albums and began to take me through his travels in the United States.
Vasanth is a nationally-recognised cinematographer but he belongs to the era of Padmarajan, Bharathan and Sethumadhavan, famed Malayalam and Tamil film directors.
So, given a camera of whatever make or size, Vasanth is bound to shoot. But the pictures are differently shot and we know why. "It's a very intuitive thing," he says.
There were a few hundred photos of the outdoors in New Orleans, New Jersey and New York.
The unsaid but evident line that ran through almost all the pictures were that they were shots of people in public spaces - in parks and zoos, avenues and beaches.
So much was happening here - buskers in the act, a music band of three entertaining people, teams of two playing a local and simple game, women sunning themselves . . .
Vasanth seemed pleased with the pictures he had taken and wondered if the material he had would make for a good photo exhibition.
That night, I chanced on a short film on BBC World. On the move of civic agencies to restrain buskers and musicians from playing in Central Park, New York.
Musicians said that the move was an infringement of their basic rights, some people said the acts could be restrained and some others, that such shows spoilt the quiet of the open spaces.
In our own neighbourhoods, Chennai Corporation has created lots of open spaces in the past few years but communities do not seem keen to make good use of them.
Whenever amateur musicians of a band seek help, I direct them to these places. The hiring fee is small, the basic facility is okay and if the acts are regular, residents are bound to sit around and enjoy the music or the theatre.
The trend set at Nageswara Rao Park in Luz and the Corporation Park in CIT Colony of holding kutcheris must inspire many others 'take over' public spaces.

Walks can teach us a lot!

2011-09-03T13:39:00.000+05:30

Can we have a Walk of the haunted houses of Adyar?, asks Binita Sashi.
Binita is part of the 'Namma Arcot Road' initiative whose main aim is to organise unique events for the Arcot Road neighbourhoods to liven up its social life.

Haunted houses of Adyar?
I hadn't heard of them until a daily newspaper published a feature on some of them.

Deep inside sprawling, hidden estates of Adyar are dilapidated bungalows which appear to be surviving in a different time but are some of these really haunted?
Stories are key to a successful Walk and we may have to do some spadework before an enterprising person launches this Walk.

Uma Vangal teaches film students at the L. V. Prasad Academy in Saligramam. She has lived in Perambur. Now, she says she would like to launch a Walk which can showcase the Anglo-Indians, their lives, hangouts and all.
All she will need is some encouragement.

These are positive responses following Madras Day 2011.
To me though, the growing interest and keeness shown by school students this year is food for thought.
The initiatives must come from the people who educate the young minds.

At least three schools in Adyar are said to have Heritage Clubs. With the help of resource people - dance gurus, officers, businessmen and the rest - who are long-time residents of the Adyar neighbourhood we could create at least half a dozen Walks which last for 45 minutes.

A Walk down Gandhi Nagar's 4th Main Road would be fascinating if it touched on three aspects - the creation and growth of this 'Co-op' colony, the great people who lived here and the changing face of the area.

Actor Mohan Raman ran a Walk on the Old Studios of Kollywood, restricted to people who paid for this Madras Day event.

Now, if groups like 'Namma Arcot Road' could get a few resource people and invite Raman to educate them on this Walk, we could have a dozen guides who could educate the students of this area.

Cinema is core to our lives today and Walks can be educative too.

Fort St. George Walk: any day!

2011-08-27T23:49:00.001+05:30

How do you manage 62 people who turn up for a Heritage Walk at the Fort, part of which is a high security zone?
That was my challenge last Sunday, at the first of two walks that I contributed to this year's Madras Day celebrations.
Online registration was on the increase.
'Register my mom, my friends and myself too!' 'Can I also bring my friends?' 'Do they allow cameras?' 'Where exactly is the car park outside the Fort?'
This was turning to be a 'running' online exchange and when you celebrate the city you have to be nice to its citizens.
When the tally crossed 30, I decided to send formal applications for permission to the police, at the Fort and to the zonal ACP. They were friendly.
'Sunday shouldn't be a problem, you come!"
On Sundays, the car park turns into a mini Chepauk. Over a dozen matches are played on the tar, criss-cross, by young men from George Town and Sowcarpet. Last Sunday, the walkers created a new community.
As the audio speakers at the Amman temple outside the main Fort gate crackled into a song and policewomen in salwars designed huge rangolis on the tar, I hoped the spirit of the celebration would seize the security services and help us cross the dry moat.
It didn't work that way. Men in Safaris will be men who have the last word. "You haven't applied to us so . . "
'But it is Madras Day, these are guests and they have come from all parts . . .
' But this is a security zone and you have not applied . . .
' No, we will not go close to the Assembly complex. We will go straight to St. Mary's . .'
It took 20 minutes to negotiate quietly. In the end, the Man in Safari said OK and he sent his Constable in Safari and the Fort Station SI in Khaki to be with us, lest we strayed.
We didn't. Though I later thought that saying 'Now this building needs to be bombed!' in front of the monstrous Secretariat Headquarters could have landed me in trouble.
The Walk around the Fort is a wonderful tour on a Sunday morning. I guess the 62 did like it. When we exited, the Amman shrine had been covered with a blanket of samandhi poo.
There are more Walks this weekend.
But we want more volunteers to take people out on Walks in Perambur and Adyar, in Royapuram and in Triplicane.
For me, the Fort will always be on my list.

What about local battles?

2011-08-20T15:22:00.000+05:30

Ashok Rajendran was a candidate in the Mylapore constituency in the recent elections to the Tamil Nadu state Assembly.
He was among the few which the Makkal Sakthi party put up across the state. They blew their whistles hard to let people know that the whistle was their symbol, impressed a few people and have lived to fight another day.
Ashok has been chatting with me about the prospects of young people in the local elections which have to be held by end October. We get to vote our reps to the city council or to the local panchayat in these elections.
Unfortunately, parties like Makkal Sakthi are so thin in strength that they do not have the numbers to even make an impact outside election time in our wards and neighbourhoods.
Ashok and his colleagues however are whistling on. A campaign against liquor has been going on and currently, they are involved in the India Against Corruption campaign which Anna Hazare and his team has triggered and given momentum to.
In Adyar, many young people and some seniors have been seen lending their support to this campaign. They all seem earnest, spirited and vocal too.
But it seems to me that many people get activated only when a massive, nation-wide movement gets going. It seems to me that people wait for some big thing to happen in order to raise a voice, carry a placard or skip lunch.
We do not see these people when issues plague the cities and neighbourhoods where they live and work.
Or is it that we are weak or frightened when it comes to local action? Or is it that such issues are not exciting to address?
The Lok Pal bill is not a magic wand. And any form of it will work only if change happens at the grassroots. And the campaign is sustained.
Would you like to be a Watchdog of local civic projects? Database them, record their execution, audit them?
Would you like blow the whistle when a local official demands money for a water connection or the local policeman wants to be gratified to allow you to take out a rally by the beach?

2011-08-14T06:10:00.001+05:30

N. Ramaswamy is a trigger-happy young man. He has to carry his camera with him wherever he goes and when an image grabs his attention he clicks. Clicks many times.
And he looks at our city differently oftentimes.
Ramaswamy has a web site called ChennaiDailyPhoto where he posts all his photos, on a daily basis.
One at a time, with pithy captions which are informative and commentative.
Nowadays, Ramaswamy even takes his son on his perambulations and the little one has also been taught how to look through the lens.
Ramaswamy joined hands with Yocee, a web site for Chennai's children to host a Photo Walk for kids for the 2010 edition of Madras Day.
The children liked it so much that Yocee's Revathi decided that for the 2011 edition of Madras Day, they would host two walks. One on Saturday that will take the group though the old parts of Royapuram in north Madras, and one on Sunday that will be through the leafy neighbourhood of south Chennai, alongside the Tholkappiya Poonga (Adyar Poonga).
Collaborations of this nature are what makes Madras Day tick.
In a corner of the Adyar neighbourhood is Yellow Bus, a space for young children. The lady at the wheel of the Bus has been among the first to draw up a dozen and more events for Madras Day.
This year she took another step. She has collaborated with a students group at Besant Theosophical School and an enthusiastic artiste to produce a villupattu production on Madras that is Chennai.
If the show strikes a chord when it is first performed next week and if the school managers permit, we believe this show should make the rounds of a few campuses during Madras Week.
Voluntary collaborations and proud citizens is what makes Madras Day special.
We are just hoping that even as she strains every nerve at the budget session of the Assembly, chief minister Jayalalithaa will also do her bit for this city - start the process to have a Heritage Act in place.

51 things to do in Chennai

2011-08-07T17:42:00.000+05:30

There were two churches I got to know well when I was small.
The St. Mary's Co-Cathedral on Armenian Street which is today more popular for the devotion to saint Anthony by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
And the Cathedral in San Thome.
I got to know them better because of a never-ending stream of nuns in transit who stopped over at our home on Mount Road. Mom was part of a family which followed the practice of encouraging girls to heed the call of vocations. And those were the days when missionaries travelled to distant stations like the North East.
Our home was a 'homely' stopover for nuns who had to take a train from the West Coast to Madras and then, the Howrah Mail.
Mom was a great host and the nuns enjoyed her trademark menu of 'sannas' and coconut chicken curry.
If the nuns were sufficiently rested, they did not mind quick trips to these churches. I accompanied them.
Both places continue to be on my 'must visit' list and I strongly recommend them to visitors and tourists.
Greater than the history, the heritage and the uniqueness of places is the experience they offer.
So, in connection with the forthcoming 'Madras Day' celebrations (www.themadrasday.in) a group of us have launched the '51 THINGS TO DO IN CHENNAI' blog.
Attempts have been made to create similar lists and these are useful. Web sites of travel publications and tour companies also provide community-driven listings.
We are hoping that this '51 Things To Do' list will try and suggest places, people, things and events that are truly Madras/Chennai and offer the 'experience'.
So instead of suggesting a visit to the church atop St. Thomas Mount we would suggest how to enjoy your visit by taking the one-hundred plus steps to the top, the views you should not miss and the other little places around this church.
To ensure that this '51 Things To Do' listing has the local flavour, it is best enriched by people like you who know this city well.
Lots of people, especially young people highly recommend visiting the Broken Bridge behind the Theosophical Society, a bridge which once linked Urur kuppam in Besant Nagar with Srinivasapuram in Pattinapakkam. The bridge collapsed many years ago. They say the view and the experience at sunrise or at sun set is amazing.
A walk on the Marina, well stocked with sundal, bajji and raw mango slices dipped in salt and red chilli powder is a Madras must do.
I am sure you too can make a recommendation. Go to www.51thingstodoinchennai.blogspot.com.
Don't stop with a line. Give us at least two paras! Tips and all.

COME, BE A PART OF MADRAS DAY 2011

2011-07-30T10:44:00.002+05:30

If you live in Adyar or in Besant Nagar, would you like to organise a Heritage Walk on Besant Avenue?
If you own a restaurant in Egmore with space to accommodate at least 40 people for a talk on the Gujaratis of Madras would you lend this space for the event?
Welcome to Madras Day. Welcome to the spirit of this celebration of the city.
It is all about people to people, this Madras Day thing that comes up in late August (Aug.21 to 28 this year).
And we as the catalysts are amazed at the manner in which this event grows.

* Dr. S. N. Nageswara Rao is Associate Professor at the P.G and Research Department of Historical Studies at Sir Theagaraya College in north Chennai.
His email says it all -
"A few years ago I participated in a small way. This time, we at the college are eager to participate. We would like to support you with volunteers and also borrow exhibition material and display the same in our college library so that more students will become aware of their own heritage. On our part the Department is planning to host talks and walks focusing more on North Madras. We have asked our students to collect old photographs from their relatives and friends featuring old buildings and famous personalities . . .

* Arjun Ranganathan from Infosys has been in touch. And his e-mail reflects the enthusiasm that corporates are showing in this unique celebration.
Writes Arjun - We would wish to organise the Madras Week celebration in our company. The idea is to make our fellow employees from northern states to understand the spirit of this city and appreciate it and also bring a sense of pride for the people from the state and this city.

* Banu is doing her Master's program in Arts Management at Dakshinachitra. This is her support - I wish to volunteer for the events, especially Heritage Walks.

* Wrote T.S. Padmapriya who blogs at http://aalayamkanden.blogspot.com - "I am a great fan of Madras and would love to volunteer in some way in the Madras Day events - especially heritage walks.

* Wrote Reena Rajan, a manager at The Residency Towers Hotel - It gives me immense pleasure to invite your association with our hotel. We confirm our venue availability for the meet . . .this would be accompanied by a hi - tea session.

Come, be a part of Madras Day. You have to start now. www.themadrasday.in has all the details.

Voices of the People

2011-07-24T08:13:00.000+05:30

Can community groups play a role in shaping state policy? If yes, how can they go about doing this?
Two events of the week made for some reflection.
We had gathered at the Journalism and Communications Department of the University of Madras after a viva voce of a doctoral candidate, debating the highs and lows of the thesis presented by a journalist who works for the 'Dina Mani' in New Delhi.
A senior academic joined us and the discussion took a different path.
It had to do with the schemes of the new government of Tamil Nadu - to provide laptops to all students.
A debate is going on among academics, activists and educators on the merits of loading it with the software of a dominant company. Is this public money well-spent? Will not such a deal fix the state to keep paying more as upgrades are required and will this be worthwhile expenditure?
Or would it be better, as some state governments have done to employ Open Source software?
Governments find it easy to set up high-power committees and high-level teams to look at all kinds of issues.
But what about sane voices from ordinary people with extraordinary wisdom and knowledge? Are these voices ready to be part of citizens' panels and let themselves be heard?
Can Jayalalithaa create that space as she moves forward in her new term as chief minister?
The second reflection came up over coffee at a school soon after the school's annual scholarship award programme.
The school's managers and senior teachers were talking about measures that they were taking to cater to poor students.
That is when the need for a breakfast scheme came up.
Thousands of children run into classrooms without having a morning meal. They slump on the benches and then fall asleep, unable to bear the pain of hunger while the drone of lessons goes on.
The state has a huge noon meal scheme in place.
But isn't a breakfast scheme far more important and key to the student community?

Wanted: your memories of Woodlands Drive-in

2011-07-17T11:21:00.000+05:30

If you used to attend sales meetings here. . if you had dates with your boyfriend here . . if you got your big idea for a movie here . . if your life was intimately linked with the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant on Cathedral Road, we would like to connect with you.
Because three people are hoping to make a documentary on this iconic space of Madras.
When this restaurant had to be closed down because of legal wrangles which the Woodlands group lost, lots of people were emotionally upset. Some even wanted to gather at its gates and express their unhappiness. Some gave vent to their feelings on their blogs.
My friend, Mohan Das Vadakkara, who is a roving cameraperson of this city rushed to that verdant campus even as the kitchen was closing down on the last day of operations to shoot those final moments.
His 30-minute-long footage will hopefully serve as the thread to weave this docu-film. And since the group needs to record the best memories from the most passionate of Drive-In fans, this is a call that is going out to them.
Singer P. B. Srinivas may have been the most seen face at this restaurant. He spent half his day here, a turban on his head, a shawl that fell to the floor and sheaves of papers and booklets on which he scribbled all the time.
Tearing him away from this place was difficult - Srinivas now spends time at the restaurant at Hotel Woodlands.
But there were many others whose lives ebbed and flowed here. Almost all of them were at the Drive-In to feast on its truly Udupi food - sizzling masala dosas, yummy sambar vadas, steaming coffee.
Everybody loved the drive-in and relax concept though many drove in, parked here and remained for hours!
For those who had failed at an interview, for those who were being driven by sales targets, for those who needed to stop and stare, Drive-In offered a warm refuge.
If the parking lot provided anonymity and quiet, the self-service section was noisy, unregulated and crowded at most times.
Drive-In was a landmark. Like the Central Station, Marina Beach, Sri Parthasarathy Koil.
And when it closed, a heritage space was taken away.
In its place stands 'Semmozhi Poonga'. A showcase, in name, of a government that was in power not so long ago.
Lots of people continue to savour the Drive-In days.
If you really have some special incidents to share, do e-mail to - themadrasday@gmail.com

How can community newspapers use tech?

2011-07-10T11:06:00.000+05:30

Councillor N. Santhanakrishnan represents his community and ward in the Valasarawakkam Municipality at the far end of Arcot Road.
Like most neighbourhoods in the suburbs of our city, his ward has the good and the bad sides of living.
This week, N. Santhanakrishnan called us because he was terribly agitated with the manner in which officials were dealing with the waste that is generated in that area.
They had converted a playground into a yard to first stock vans and equipment and slowly turned this place into what they called a transit yard for garbage.
Following the call were others. Residents who provided inputs and one person who offered to shoot a picture of the dump yard that was located bang in the middle of a dense residential and business space.
Collated, these inputs helped us report this story in the 'Arcot Road Times' newspaper.
Of late, we at our newspapers are keenly encouraging readers to become part of the news-sharing and gathering process.
It is this hint that a senior citizen of the Mylapore neighbourhood picked up to alert us of what he thought was a clear case of land grab of a huge property that should belong to the community.
He heard that a hall that stood on that prized plot had been demolished overnight and metal sheets erected all around the plot. And when the buzz was that this plot could be on the selling block, he alerted us and gave us all the background material.
Hopefully, it will help the Mylapore Times team to report on this development.
We do receive a stream of pictures and short notes on community events. They are important for a neigbourhood weekly.
We also receive pictures of pot-holed streets, garbage mounds and broken furniture in the park. These too help us highlight local civic conditions.
But very few people are ready to stick they neck out and alert us to more serious developments in our neighbourhoods. Issues like covert encroachments by big - timers, slip-shod civic work by contractors and human rights violations can best be reported when people take the lead to share information.
We also hope to use tech tools to enable the process of making information available in the public domain.
If you would like to share ideas on how our community newspapers can tap into tech applications and resources to make this happen, do let us know.

Enjoy Country Music of Anglo musicians

2011-07-02T14:16:00.000+05:30

Tommy Smith is a name musicians of the 50s and 60s of Madras would remember. So would people who frequented the clubs or enjoyed the festival dances.

Tommy ran a popular band in the city, played for the big names in the film music world of Vadapalani and when the time was right, migrated to Australia where he is highly respected by the Aussie artistes.

But Tommy has not severed his ties with Madras and his friends across India, some of whom still play jazz and pop at clubs, hotels and studios.

These past few years, Tommy has been flying into India for two reasons. One, to make his pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Vailankanni, near Nagapattinam (dozens of Anglo-Indians from all over the world make a pilgrimage on foot from Madras to this coastal shrine on the eve of the feast in September).

Two, to perform with Anglo-Indian musicians of this city for a concert that raises funds for community projects.

Harry Maclure who runs the 'Anglos in The Wind' magazine from Anna Nagar and his team has managed to brand these concerts very well.
Themed ' Blazing Guitars', the first edition of this concert at Museum Theatre last year was a sell-out and when the last country music song echoed in that 150-year-old hall, it was close to 10 p.m. and few had left the place.

This time, Blazing Guitars' second edition moves to The Music Academy on July 9 evening and in the lead is Barry Rosario and his band who performed last year.
Barry has managed to group some of the best young Anglo-Indian talent in this city and joining them will be veterans like Tommy Smith.

Tommy ducked hiccups in the airline schedules, performed till 2 a.m. last weekend at his regular club shows, got into a hopping flight at 6 a.m. and landed in Madras to keep his date for the Blazing Guitars show.
Truly some amazing support this!

Country music runs deep in Anglo homes and colonies and next weekend's show is bound to be a big hit for anyone who loves music, especially vintage music.
If you want to relive the 60s and enjoy the wonderful Anglo-Indian spirit, be there at the Academy. Dress code ( suggested) - checks and jeans. Don't bring the guns, even if the are just toys.

Solar panels at street corners?

2011-06-25T14:20:00.001+05:30

A few days ago, there was a little drama that took place on the main road where the office of the Mylapore Times is located.
Black jelly spurted from the tarred road, flames shot up, the smell of burning wires enveloped the place and smoke swirled up.
Once again the local power cable which supplies power to our building which is set in a complex owned by Chennai Corporation had crumbled, unable to handle the load required to keep over 30 shops and offices going.
The impatient, evening rush-hour traffic smothered the drama and we resigned to the inevitable - working in the sweltering heat and under emergency lamps and in candle-light.
We have learnt to work around the daily dose of hour-long power cuts. And when the unofficial ones strike us, I some times choose to go up to the terrace and sit under the canopy of a Rain Tree that rises from the neighbour's compound and spreads across our terrace.
If the sea breeze sets in in the afternoon this is the place to be.
During one recent break on the terrace, I mused over the idea of fixing solar panels to draw natural power for our Macs and making little of the current power crisis.
Perhaps, if we did this we could convince a few others in this complex to adopt the technology. And get the Chennai Corporation Commissioner to acknowledge this effort!
There are a few simple ways in which civic and community issues can be addressed locally.
The effort is missing or is rather lame.
Recently, a resident of the Adyar neighbourhood wrote to the 'Adyar Times' newspaper to highlight the practise of local shops using all the lights and neon signs they had fixed inside and outside their shops at a time when we are facing a sever power crisis.
This was a timely point to make.
But did the Electricity Board officials of Adyar get to read this letter?
If they had, they could have started an informal campaign to coax shops to switch off their 'decorative' and promotional lighting and thus save some power.

Madras Week 2011: how can you celebrate?

2011-06-18T08:31:00.002+05:30

A small group has a date to keep in June. It is the group which catalyses all that goes on in the name of Madras Day.
Madras Day, for those who are new to the celebration is an annual event which attempts to celebrate the founding of this city of ours and all that it stands for.
What began as a simple, one - day event some years ago is now a unique celebration which hosts close to 100 events that it is now covers over a week.
So we now choose to rename Madras Day as Madras Week!
The Madras Day group's June meeting is for brainstorming. To think of core events, to list resources and people who can contribute, to share ideas on how to grow . . .
The 2011 edition of Madras Week is to be celebrated from August 21 to 28 since August 22 is now observed as Madras Day (the day a deal is said to have been signed between the local ruler and a rep of the Company to own a piece of sandy land which grew into Fort St. George and led to the formation of this city).
We are very keen to get lots of communities and groups involved this year and hence, getting the word across as early as we can to set the ball rolling.
It is all about sharing, networking and putting hands together.
IT professional and writer Pradeep Chakravarthy is best known for his tours of temples where he taps into records and inscriptions to tell stories. Now Pradeep is sparing time to give talks at a few city schools and take a few student-groups on walking tours in south Madras.
Writer-historian V. Sriram has compiled a list of over 20 speakers who can deliver great talks on subjects related to the city. Crime, cinema, temples, archaeology, Gujarati community, the Anglo-Indians, theatre, cricket . . . .and more.
Actor and collector Mohan V. Raman is willing to share his prize collection of postage stamps and Thamizh film and theatre materials to people who will display them carefully. He is also open to invitations for talks " but only if there are at least 30 to 40 keen people in the audience."
But Madras Week needs dozens of passionate people to share, link, network and execute to make this celebration a success.
The unique character of this event is that it is all about people doing their own thing with their own efforts and monies. There are no corporate sponsors, there are no state-driven plans and there is no one single mela.
After all, this is a people's celebration.
So this is the time to invite schools and colleges, clubs and community groups, artists and musicians, bikers and Hashers, Rotarians and Freemasons . . . to plan events that celebrate this city of ours.
Some leads are at www.themadrasday.in. E-mail - madrasday@yahoo.com.

Mango Party is a fun idea!

2011-06-11T09:40:00.000+05:30

Theatrepeople will be familiar with Ranga Shankara of Bengaluru.

Promoted by the well known actor Arundathi Nag who toiled for years to set up this unique space for theatre, Ranga Shankara which is located in the upscale neighbourhood of J. P. Nagar in Bengaluru is now known across the country and outside.

Plays are held here throughout the month/year though the accent is on Kannada and space is provided to all shades of theatrepeople.

This week, the Ranga Shankara invite in our electronic mail box was for a unique event.

It is hosting its annual Mango Party on June 12.

All you need to do is bring along a kilo of mangoes of your choice and contribute to the mango pool that will be created at this place.

Later, at an appointed time people can gather around, choose the fruits they like and enjoy them even as musicians and actors entertain the guests.

Ranga Shankara is also hosting a special Mango Party only for children and I am sure those who will attend will enjoy it.

This is the kind of fun event that can be a huge hit in a community.

There used to be a small group of vintage Hindi film enthusiasts who met once a month at Elliots Beach in Besant Nagar.

They came from all over the city and each was asked to bring snacks made at home which would be sufficient for the entire group.

The men would devote an hour to singing the evergreen songs they grew up with and then pass the snacks around.

Our neighbourhoods still have some quiet, open, green spaces where communities with ideas and enterprise can gather at least once a month and indulge in creative events.

You don't need sponsorship, you don't need chairs and tables and mikes, you don't even need permission from the local police for they would gladly support such informal events.

But we do need creative people who can use public spaces creatively.

If you or your group has been doing some thing like the Mango Party do let me know.

Roar for CSK but support volleyball too!

2011-06-04T09:55:00.001+05:30

The roars at Chepauk were deafening last weekend. Chennai Super Kings had won the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League T20 cricket and won it with ease.
Well before the CSK players lifted the trophy parties hit the top and there were lots of people outside the M A Chidambaram cricket stadium and in city clubs and bars showing off their CSK colours.
If the IPL continues to be well managed and presented year after year, it could duplicate the success of international club football.
And our city will have lots of CSK fans who will want to roar more often.
Chepauk was our destination if there were matches on the weekend that we could watch for free in the 70s. The stadium was a fifteen-minute walk from home. Every other youngster in Chepauk and Triplicane could play cricket.
The Egmore stadium was our destination on the other side of the river. It took us 5 minutes to get there from our school if we took the short cut of jumping over the wall that protected the hockey field.
The Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, as it is called today hosted three intense sports activity. Hockey, volleyball and tennis. A few chess diehards would play games under the shade of the campus trees.
Hockey and volleyball attracted our bunch of schoolboys. While the city hockey league matches began at about 2 p.m. the volleyball court came alive at about 4 p.m.
There was one man who drove everything about volleyball at the Egmore courts and he was a roly-poly man called P. John. He not only nurtured generations of volleyball players but also saw that his Nellai Friends Volleyball Club became legendary.
Everybody who played, cheered or gawked at the games in Egmore knew this man and made sure to be at the matches he organised here.
I am told Nellai Friends is perhaps the oldest such club. It is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. And the celebrations come at a time when the Indian Volley League (IVL) has just been launched and will be in action in our city from this weekend at the Nehru Stadium. Nellai Friends is involved and it wants sports-lovers to be there.
The IVL also needs our support. So if you love sport, make time to be at the stadium. There are some exciting teams in action and volleyball too can excite you like cricket does.

Create the OMR community

2011-05-28T18:39:00.001+05:30

If you have your home in the OMR neighbourhood or you have friends who live there or you intend to buy an apartment in the area, here is a lead you may want to make a note of. . .
Old Mahabalipuram Road is now Rajiv Gandhi Salai. I certainly do not approve of this name change, for some names carry a heritage that must live with the present.
Once it was a little more than a mud track (I would love to hear from oldtimers of Adyar, from the retired CLRI community on their own memories of this road). But in recent times when the state decided to promote it as the IT highway and the plans found a level after some bubbles burst, its character changed.
The large expanses were bought by big-timers in the real estate business who promised us of high rises which ran up into the skies over Muttukadu and Padur.
The new residential apartment blocks though have been slow in coming up in keeping with the climate in the realty markets. But in the years to come OMR, as we now call this region will be a sprawling neighbourhood.
Friend G. V. Krishnan moved into an OMR apartment recently. An unexpected turn in his colourful life.
Krish retired from the Times of India after a long, eventful career at India's leading newspaper. He belonged to the old school of journalism and must be glad he moved out before the slap-dash business became part of the new TOI.
Krish retired to the hills of Coonoor and since his fingers were itchy and he wanted to remain connected, launched a simple Web site on the Coonoor community. It became quite popular around the world.
Krish had to move home, this time to Mysore. Once settled, he launched another Web community called the Mysore Blog Park. That too generated interest, attention and debate.
This year, Krish made yet another move and came down to OMR. And last fortnight, he launched a blog called OMR Resident.
Krish makes good use of the skills he employed in his career. In this case, he focuses on posting stories on the OMR. Sunrise over the Muttukadu backwaters, local service providers who shuttle between Siruseri, Padur and Kelambakkam, maddening traffic, useful nooks to source curd, bread and greens and development at the complex where he resides and is the area around it.
Krish hopes people who have come to live on the OMR will post their own bits of info and enrich it. If that happens, it will be one online space which will really benefit this community.
Log on www.omrresident.blogspot.com.

Seniors find ways to relax

2011-05-21T16:29:00.000+05:30

There is a small community of radio listeners who love the SLBC. Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.
These are people whose day cannot be made unless they tune in to the Western Pop Music programme that goes on air every morning on SLBC.
The Top of the Pops of the 50s and 60s is on the airwaves all the time. Engelbert Humperdinck, Jim Reeves, Elton John, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton and of course Elvis Presley.
This is a Listeners' Request show and the presenters have been on the air for decades.
It is that warm, personal communication and the still hugely popular music that makes this community tune into SLBC day in and day out.
Recently, in the course of a meeting with a resident in my neighbourhood I realised how this evergreen programme of the SLBC was the lifeline for senior citizens.
Shirley leads a retired life though she is in her late fifties. She hardly has any relatives and the few friends she has have been cultivated at the church she attends, which is not too often.
Shirley is coming to terms with all the ills and pains that come with ageing.
But she says the isolation that a changing neighbourhood in a place like Adyar forces on seniors like her is something that she is coming to terms with great difficulty.
Few neighbours talk freely. Fewer still are willing to extend a helping hand. Most keep to themselves, she says.
So it is the radio which is her companion. She has her favourites. Old Pop Hits on SLBC and a few Christian worship programmes. And her day is made when a SLBC host calls and chats 'live'!
Recently though Shirley has chosen another option to fight loneliness.
She has bought a cellphone and she encourages the few friends she has to call her. But there is one condition - the cellphone line is kept open only for two hours every morning.
I can't afford the bills and I hate these pesky marketing people, she says.
In our fast-changing neighbourhoods, some senior citizens have found ways to enjoy the sunshine. Many though want some warmth.

Interact with your MLA

2011-05-14T16:36:00.000+05:30

We now have a new Member of the state Legislative Assembly (MLA) to represent us.
As the results of the 2011 elections sink in and as a new government prepares to take charge, we too have a role to play in the months and years ahead.
For all those who chose to come out of their homes on a hot April day to cast the ballot, the act was just one important step in a democracy.
We cannot stop with just that.
Now is the time to get involved.
At our newspapers, in Adyar, in Mylapore and in Arcot Road we made our own little contribution in this election.
We chose to report on the run-up to the election - on the campaign, the contestants and the issues affecting the constituencies.
To make use of the technology resources, we set up web sites and posted information almost everyday.
This effort did have some positives because there was a steady stream of visitors to the sites and they seem to have used the information made available to voters.
Now that the MLAs have been elected and they begin to execute their responsibilities, there is lots more that we can do together.
On our side, we plan to report on these representatives and on their work in our newspapers. We will also launch fresh web sites which will tap into simple tech tools that allow the MLAs and the people to share ideas, post comments and raise issues.
But this alone will not be enough.
This is the time for civil society groups, residents' associations and civic-minded people in our neighbourhoods to join hands, conducts meetings with the MLAs, interact and work together.
On election eve, in some places people hosted face-to-face meetings with the candidates.
Those were small starting points.
The more important steps must be taken now.
To engage with our reps. And we need to start today.
If you have ideas to share and wish to contribute, e-mail to our newspapers.

Chennai's stores could take a afternoon break!

2011-05-07T08:30:00.000+05:30

For many, shopping is a huge experience, something to look forward to, to get excited about, to indulge in.
For some, like me watching shoppers makes interesting observation.

Earlier this week, I visited a jewellery store located on a busy road in the Virugambakkam neighbourhood.
Young Ashish who graduated a couple of years ago was blessed by his Dad to branch off on his own, having learnt the tricks and the ins and outs of the trade for many years.

This is a business that runs in the Rajasthanis and those who have moved away from the basics of lending money, and from pawn broking have gone into businesses. Jewellery is one of them.

Ashish's dad was perhaps the earliest to set up shop in this part of the city. He launched himself over three decades ago when the fields and scrublands on either side of Arcot Road were slowly being measured and marked to be sold as plots to middle-class families dreaming of a house of their own.

Arcot Road was then the pathway to moviedom, a time when people gathered at the railway gates in Kodambakkam to gawk at film stars in their cars, waiting for the trains to pass by and let the gates be opened to vehicular traffic.

Today, the once-suburban colonies are sprawling neighbourhoods and Ashish is banking on this growth to fuel his fortunes.
As I sat at the young man's grandly designed new store I watched men and women immersed in their quest to buy some jewellery. Some made a quick selection, paid in crisp notes and left, a couple took time to select a pair of gold bangles, went out to get cash at a ATM and were happy with their buy and one lady and her daughter spent close to an hour to value bits of used jewellery, choose a new piece and sign up on a chit scheme.

The buzz though was because Akshaya Tritiya was at hand!
When the last shopper of that day had left and Aahish was free to chat with me, it was close to 10 p.m.

On a stuffy, hot day when the temperature was soaring at about 41degrees it was a relief to enjoy the air-conditioning in that new store.
I wonder why shops and retail businesses in our neighbourhoods keep their doors open from 9 am to 10 pm, when in summer, few people will stir out between 1 and 3.

Isn't there a lot to be gained by closing down at that time of the day? Retailers in parts of Pondicherry and Goa do it to enjoy a leisurely siesta and it pays!

Today, local shopping peaks after 8 p.m. Retailers have realised the needs of changing lifestyles and demands. Perhaps, a long break at lunch time in a tropical zone is a profitable practice.

Jigarthanda, Anjappar and food reviews

2011-04-30T12:58:00.000+05:30

If you are from the Madurai region you would be familiar with jigarthanda.
It is a form of falooda.
Jigarthanda is served in a tall glass with layers of thickened milk, rose syrup, china grass and ice cream. Most people like to drink it but some street-corer shops offer you a steel spoon with which to relish the layered contents.
On a stuffy summer's evening, this speciality of Madurai is a delight. If you are new to this city, all you need to do is to slow down at a busy junction and look for a nook that is crowded and you are sure to have located the popular jigarthanda joint.
I have sampled the stuff at different joints in Madurai and found that there are variations of it. The most recent experience was the cooler that was sold by Muslims. The ordinary jigarthanda which cost ten rupees was more like a juice while the special, priced at thirty rupees had a generous layer of semiya and a big scoop of ice-cream.
Here in our city, there is a jigarthanda outlet outside Murugan Idli Shop in Besant Nagar. I am yet to check it out. I also have an invitation from a group of entrepreneurs to sample the jigarthanda at their restaurant in K. K. Nagar.
Perhaps, a foodie should start a jigarthanda listing web site that should help us navigate the best spots in Madurai. (A Facebook group records the recipe!)
I think our city needs a restaurant review web site that is no-nonsense in content and blunt in its reviews - in addition to the many web sites, blogs and burps that foodies refer to.
More so because restaurants are opening and closing like kariveppillai in boiling oil. Many are rich in décor and low on quality of food, high on branding and average on service.
Last week, dining at an Anjappar restaurant in T. Nagar I witnessed a diner rattle the stewards and the manager. As soon as the chicken curry was served at the table, the young woman stirred it to find it contained a few thin shreds of meat. She blew a fuse. The manager tried to defend but she would have none of it.
'Serve us well or we will walk out,' she said sternly.
The couple got an extra plate of chicken curry in minutes.

Picnics on ECR

2011-04-23T10:26:00.000+05:30

Summer picnics.
I wonder how many of us get excited about organising one and then going out with family and friends to enjoy it.
At this time of the year I get calls from friends who bank on me to suggest weekend picnic ideas. They are looking for day trips that are simple and interesting.
Interesting for children who are now on holiday.
My suggestions are often biased. Biased towards a bit of history and heritage and the environment.
No, I am not suggesting another bout of an educational exercise for kids who must have had enough of their exams and preparations for a new academic year.
But if the picnics can also be journeys of discovery then there is a plus in them!
The East Coast Road (ECR) is my favourite suggestion as it must be for many, many families.
This region offers so many little nooks to discover and journeys that can break with a picnic lunch!
You could 'discover' the Buckingham Canal from the Thiruvanmiyur point to the Marakkanam lake. Once a busy transport route, there are little vestiges of the past that may interest you. The locks are one of them. At Kelambakkam, at Muttukadu, at Thiruvidanthai . . .
Pick up a map before you set out. Cruise along the ECR when you get close to each of these spots. Park your car and walk across to the edge of the Canal. There are always surprises.
If you start early in the day you will find a host of birds at the Kelambakkam point. You may even see people busy working on a few salt pans in this area.
At Muttukadu, walk past the Boating Place of TN Tourism, alongside the Canal and you will get a nice view of the locks. When the Indian boats sailed here and the wind died down (which was often) the boat-hands would walk along either bank and pull the boat, using ropes tied to it, doing so till the wind picked up again!
Well, this is one of the many suggestions for a summer holiday day trip.
Yes, it is not meant for easy-go picnickers.
A weekend that is just a little different out in the open is what you will remember.

TN Elections: Educated go out to vote

2011-04-16T17:59:00.000+05:30

There was a positive feature to Elections 2011 in the two constituencies I chose to focus on Voting Day, April 13.

Many young people stood in the queue to cast their ballot. As did many ‘upwardly mobile’ people.

This is perhaps the first time in many, many years that I have witnessed this trend at the polling booths in the Mylapore-Adyar neighbourhoods.

Though the neighboruhoods now fall under two constituencies since a new one called Velachery was carved out and Adyar now comes under it, the character and colour of these areas is pretty much common.

I chose not to be in the queue at 8 a.m. but to catch up with the news. And when I did walk out at 11 a.m. and walked past two polling booths, there were at least 30 to 50 people at each polling station. Working couples in their 40s, young professionals, senior citizens and many women.

Many people came in their latest cars, cursed the heat but chose to stand in the queue though some who decided they were VIPs walked past the police to the booth and were challenged by seniors in the queue. “This is one day when all of us are equal!” piped up one old man.

The trend was quite similar is many places. People seemed determined to vote.

But as the first round of voting trends came out it was evident that less than 70% of the electorate in the neighbourhood had cast their ballot. So while the turnout of the educated and the well-off was positive, there were many people who were partying in Bangalore or watching television at home or simply could not be bothered because they had not received the Voter Slip at the doorstep.

There were many hiccups. Names not listed in the electoral rolls. Pictures missing in the rolls. Mix-ups in booth numbering. Lazy poll officials. Officials who discouraged you from opting for 49(O). And yet, I got to know that many people made an effort to negotiate these hiccups. Or gave up after an argument.

The new MLAs will be known only a month later. If you start to engage with him or her from then on, you will be going beyond merely voting.

T N Elections: beyond the vote

2011-04-09T11:07:00.000+05:30

In the heart of Colachel, which hugs the sea in Kanyakumari district, a cavalcade of union minister and Congress (I) leader, G. K. Vasan grinds to a stop at a traffic junction for an impromptu election speech.
The act takes place in the searing April heat for fifteen minutes but all those who have gathered and are passing by stop to listen and then disperse as the caravan heads to Nagercoil.
In his simple office in Colachel, Fr. J. Joseph sits back and talks about the involvement of the Christian community in politics and in state elections. Midway, he picks up a spiral-bound file and says, "This has all the information that empowers our people."
The Catholic priest, a Vicar Forane who oversees six parish units in this region refers to a conscious effort by the Church and the community leaders to database all the schemes and projects due to this community which enables people to address politicians and officials and engage them.
Caste, religion and community continues to play a huge role in electoral politics and it shows in the 2011 state elections.
So what role do you play in your constituency?
In a few days, the state goes to the polls. On April 13.
And we will have the opportunity to exercise what is perhaps the biggest gift of democracy.
How many of us will really take the trouble to cast the ballot?
How many of us have given some time and thought to the election process? Who are the candidates? What do they stand for? Who really deserves to be supported? Or do we need to demonstrate our disapproval?
I am a tad unhappy with the overly tight regulations that the Election Commission has brought to bear on the campaigns. There are no posters around that will help us to put a face to a name. To know who the candidates are. There are no spaces where candidates and parties can post their agendas and promises and hang their symbols.
Elections are celebrations too. And campaigns need to communicate.
And while civil society is jumping up to hold fasts and take part in candlelight processions for a Hazare, it does not even contemplate hosting community meets for candidates in the fray and for residents in the local constituency.
This is the time for small and active groups to engage with the candidates in a constituency. And to build systems that will be in place when a new legislator is elected to represent you and me so that the engagement moves forward in the days to come.

TN Elections 2011: Meet the Candidates

2011-04-02T12:59:00.000+05:30

You organise a New Year party in your apartment complex.
You do your two-bit for a Go Green campaign in your office. You join the walk on the Marina for your Rotary Club's anti-obesity drive.
How about doing your two-bit during this election?
Look around you and you will find an opportunity you should not miss.
There is positive-ness in the air.
Small groups of people are coming together to host face-to-face meetings with the candidates who are seeking your votes and promising you a few good things, a few hollow things and a few tall things.
These people, who live in your neighbourhood are creating a platform. A space where candidates and voters can meet in a less sticky atmosphere. Away from the heat of a campaign.
These are the platforms where you and I can engage with the men and women who want to be our reps.
You can listen to what they have to say and make decisions, collaborate, persuade and challenge.
All this can be done in a civil manner.
You can even help make them raise issues and adopt those which your community feels are important.
The campaign slogans have already become stale. Scams, dynastic rule, price rise, goondagiri. . .yes these are issues at one level. But candidates hardly talk about constituency-level issues.
Traffic management. Environment degradation. Plans for kuppams and slums. Budgets for local civic projects. Law and order.
This is where you come in. You and your community will know these better than the candidates. Raise them. Push them. Or try to understand them.
Hopefully, these meetings will not end with the campaigns. They must be regular and make the new MLA accountable.
That process starts now.

Why your vote counts

2011-03-26T10:39:00.000+05:30

Can we really make a difference in an election? At the local level for the City Council, in the Assembly poll or for the Lok Sabha?
Or are politicians making us looking like fools once elections are over?
I think we have been fooled time and again because we allow these reps to get away.
Can you recall the name of the man who was elected Member of Parliament for the South Chennai seat?
Clue: he was from the AIADMK party.
Clue; he was not a film star
Clue: he was a man some AIADMK cadres knew.
The man's name is Rajendran and he is from suburban Chitlapakkam. He won by a whisker, he posed for pictures, he received garlands, he was seen in Delhi a few times and that was the last we saw and heard of him. At least in this part of a huge, high-profile constituency.
Winners of a losing party in this part of the country can be pretty soft.
In the end, it seems to be a game of numbers. So, can we make a difference?
Friend K. Satyanarayan, a book publisher who also has an interest in politics and community life was encouraged with the launch of two web sites for this state election ( www.mylaporevotes.wordpress.com and www.velacheryvotes.wordpress.com).
So he did some homework and mailed us some interesting notes.
• There are 206,078 voters in the Mylapore constituency for the 2011 Assembly elections
• In the past two elections in 2001 and 2006, the winner polled around 62,000 votes.
• The victory margins have been very low in 2001 and 2006. It was as low as 6,047 votes in 2001 and just 1,657 votes in 2006.
• The average turnout over the last 4 Assembly elections was 54%, with the maximum turnout of 63% in 2006 and the lowest turnout of 41% in 2001.
• The past four elections have all been two horse races, with the winner and the runner-up together accounting for 90% of the votes polled.
• If the same trend continues in 2011, a candidate would need to get about 51,000-55,000 votes to win the Mylapore seat.
I assume Satya has not mailed the info for mere armchair debate.
If you read between the lines, there are a few messages for us all. Your vote will make some difference. Be in in Mylapore, Velachery or Virugambakkam.
Before we cast that ballot, if we can engage with the candidates now we may not be 'cheated' the way the elected MP did!

Elections 2011 - Websites on Mylapore, Velachery

2011-03-19T14:23:00.000+05:30

If you ever come across an autorickshaw with the legend N. Murugan emblazoned on its canvas roof at the rear in the colours of the DMK party you may help me fill in on some political gossip.

One of the many dozen auto driver friends of mine had a story to share the other day when I hired him for a ride to work. He claimed Murugan was a DMK strongman and owned lots of auto.

Autodrivers do have their fingers on the pulse of the city and they have lots of info, leads and gossip. And they talk or even sing if you tickle them on their trips across town.

At Election time, you can dip into their small talk and get a sense of what is going on around you.

My OMR auto driver friend is betting on the return of Jayalalithaa and the AIADMK party. “I am a AIADMK man driving an auto that is owned by a DMK man,” he told me. ‘But take it from me, amma is going to come back.”

This can be a dipstick taken a month before we all go out to cast our vote in State Elections 2011. It may tell us which way the wind is blowing in some regions and with some people but it is
early days yet.

They used to say that most auto drivers in the city were pro DMK.
Actually, most were great fans of the late MGR; many in their 50s still are though not all side with the AIADMK of the day.
The more diehard fans of MGR were the cycle rickshawallahs. That generation is gone but the few who remain are proud to display photos and stickers of their thalaivar.

At elections, we cannot be swayed by idols, TV sets and grand alliances of the kazhagams. We need to look at the candidates, their parties and their policies.

The tragedy of today’s politics is that if the winner belongs to the losing party, not only is he or she cut to size, even that constituency is ostracised. That is why Mylapore MLA S. Ve. Shekher knew which sandwich to butter.

Where does that leave a voter?

Engagement is key. It is not enough for us to know about the parties and the candidates and vote for the best choice but to engage with the man or woman who has become the legislator of our constituency.

To help share information on the candidates, raise local issues and provide utility data that voters need, we have created two web sites for Elections 2011. One for the Mylapore Assembly constituency and one for the new Velachery constituency (which covers all parts of Adyar).

The URLs are - www.mylaporevotes.wordpress.com and www.velacheryvotes.wordpress.com

You may not only use the info and respond to reportage but also share your notes. Since this is completely local, please remain focussed. However, let not your acts be restricted to an online activity!
Engage in all ways you can.

Why vote in election 2011

2011-03-13T08:56:00.001+05:30

They make you walk up and down a dozen and more times when you want to get a Voter ID Card.
They delay this for weeks on end.
Then they misspell your name on the card.
After all this, would you really want to participate in a state election process?
You call up your MLA but his phone is busy, his PA is busy and his dog is busy.
You email him and he sends you a smiley.
You want him to fix your dead streetlights and do some thing about the piling garbage. He makes a promise and does not keep it or keeps it much later.
You have not seen him in your colony but you have seen his picture in the newspapers. And when you finally turn up before him for help, he asks, “Did you vote for me in the election?”
And you wonder, why should I bother about elections and MLAs.
You get your filter water on order. Your generator starts when the EB line breaks down. You have ways to beautify your pavement and get rid of the stinking NMF garbage bin that is right next to your apartment block.
You can live without your democratically elected rep.
And you smirk - who needs an election?
Does an election to the State Assembly really mean anything to a metro neighbourhood?
If you go by the stats and analyses, the answer is a broad NO.
The number of people who make it a point to learn about the issues, the candidates and the politics is small. Those who prefer to remain ignorant are not embarrassed anymore unless you stick a mike and camera in their face and stump them.
The percentage of people who go out on Election Day and cast their ballot has been falling alarmingly. Some plan a holiday out, some watch TV, some just do not bother and some get driven away by the goons at the poll station or are driven in circles because of mixed data and patchy records.
But some make an effort. They even demand that they register their view that they do not approve of any of the candidates in the fray - you can do that by law.
We have distanced ourselves from grassroot democracy and its function. And we seem to be saying goodbye to elections.
Yes, you have not got the candidates you would wish for.
Yes, you do not expect much from either of the political parties. Yes, much looks like a black comedy.
But if we go away and away from what is core to democracy we may well be encouraging the worst.
Another election is with us. Think. You have a role to play.
And it does not start and end with casting your ballot.

Changing Face of Chidambaram

2011-03-06T09:04:00.000+05:30

Heard of a soft drink called Bovonto?

It comes from the hugely famous Kali Mark group, a local brand that the previous generation will surely remember.

Bovonto holds its own in the rural market of the Pepsis and the Cokes. And when I saw rows of Bovonto in a cool drinks shop in Chidambaram this past week, I stopped, bought a drink and chatted with the shop owner.

I am in Chidambaram with the KutcheriBuzz team web casting the annual Natyanjali Dance Festival here. The job keeps us busy from 5 p.m. to well past midnight.

During the day, we explore the town. Each place or neighborhood has its own character and over time, it changes. The visual or mental record can make great archival material.

It is at the Bovonto cool drinks shop that I get the lead for a more significant development in Chidambaram. A dangler for a new apartments project that was to come up on the premises of an old cinema theatre here.

Today, as you drive into this temple town, you may not be able to sight the massive gopurams of the temple. Highrise apartments are the new gopurams.

They dot the shaven lands which once were fields on the edge. A few years ago, we had seen cement, yellow-painted boards advertising plots carved out of these fields.

Now, apartments seem to be selling faster than plots.

Advocate A. K. Natarajan who is also the president of the Natyanjali Trust says that the demand for apartments is big. He himself is developing a part of the ancestral property to build about 40 flats. These will be spacious but most sold ion the town are match-box sized.

So the tiled houses of the Dikshitars on the mada veedhis are giving way to apartments, office complexes and shops, all of them looking like long slices of cake. One block almost hugs the eastern wall of the temple.

Most flats here are bought by people who work at Annamalai University and at NLC, Neyveli and Natarajan tells me that they are investments for the buyers.

While the Kumbakonam-based Bovonto holds its own in Chidambaram the high-rises are changing the face of the town.

Triplicane Cricket Stories

2011-02-27T17:44:00.000+05:30

Is there someone out there who could compile the 50 fascinating stories of grassroot cricket and cricketers in our city?
If there is one, there is lots of material which could make a good book.
A book like this should have come out now. A time when the 2011 edition of the ICC World Cup has rolled out and will generate much excitement, debate and partying in the days to come.
If there is one neighbourhood which will find a place in most of these cricket stories it has to be Triplicane - one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Madras and the only one to grow around a cricket stadium.
To source these stories you will have to locate the men who must be in their 50s, 60s and 70s who lived on and off the streets that lead to Sri Parthasarathy Temple and all the streets that run between Wallajah
Road, Bells Road and Triplicane High Road.
Triplicane’s immediate neighbour, Mylapore also has had its share of grassroot cricket. After all, only ‘thopes’ and scrub land grew between the two when they used to be prominent villages of this city.
My source of Triplicane stories is sportsperson A V Vidya Sagar. Sagar grew up here, learnt his cricket lessons on the lanes, on Marina’s sands and at Chepauk and almost made it to the A team.
Today, he devotes all his time to table tennis, coaching and creating young champs. In March, he will open his grand TT playing centre in the East Coast Road area of Palavakkam.
His cricket stories tumble out during my occasional visits to the TT hall that can be fully completed if Sagar gets a few more donors or the Sports Development Authority of TN supports him.
The last story I heard was of the times when the great sports journalist and writer Rajan Bala used to head to the Triplicane adda every evening after work and enjoy the debates and the drink.
Yes, there are lots of stories on Tamil Nadu cricket you get to read in a book titled ‘ Mosquitoes and Other Jolly Rovers’ written by V. Ram Narayan. Ram jots his experiences of playing in open spaces like
the one that existed at the junction of Mowbrays Road ( TTK Road) and C. V. Raman Road in Alwarpet.
But some one out there should write on the Triplicane cricket. There is a lot to be told and shared.

Let's keep a watch on our roads

2011-02-12T10:22:00.000+05:30

We are trying out a civic audit exercise in Adyar. Keeping a watch on the condition of  some neighbourhood roads / streets.

It is a very small effort, a voluntary one. And we have called it Roads Watch.

We started this when some of us who are interested in civic affairs realised late last year that most of our roads were possibly in the worst state ever.

Chennai Corporation had many reasons to advance and some may have been genuine too - unexpected rains, ongoing civic projects that hindered road laying, expected monsoon and the like.

And then, our local councillors floated proposals for relaying roads. This was a good time to start the audit exercise.

Civic activist Shekar Raghavan who works out of his Besant Nagar apartment is anchoring this project.

His job is to jot down reports that Adyarites file about the state of the roads in their colony or nagar.

We expect people who call him will be honest and factual. Of course, there are Adyarites who call to say that their streets have not been relaid for 5 or 6 years. Do they have a record to show for this? They do not. Obviously, we cannot record such data.

There has been a steady flow of specific information and it is published in the Adyar Times.

At this point, the civic body is engaged in relaying roads/streets. So the audit will be useful when Adyarites follow-up their Road Watch and report the condition in  2 / 4 / 6 months down the line. Residents whose streets have never been relaid may want to maintain photo records.

This audit is not being undertaken to expose the Chennai Corporation, its officers or its contractors.

The Commissioner has said an independent team checks the quality of the works.

However, citizens have the responsibility to take greater interest in civic projects worth many crores of rupees. The efforts will enable local officers to be sincere and responsible, contract work to be reviewed and grassroot democracy to function well.

If you have ideas or want to get involved in this little effort, share your thoughts or email your reports.

Mylapore MLA: Whose rep?

2011-02-06T12:58:00.002+05:30

Do you like S. V. Shekher or despise him or simply don't know of him?
Anybody who follows local politics or cinema or theatre will know Shekher. He has been around for a long time and has done many big and small things in his life.
If you are a Mylaporean or Adyarite you should have known him because you (if you had cast your ballot in the last elections) would have seen, heard or read about him some 5 years ago.
Shekher is your MLA. He represents you in the state Assembly.
(In our day and time, most people are simply ignorant or just don't care.)
Shekher won on an AIADMK ticket, bucking the trend when the DMK was sweeping the poll.
But very soon he found himself on sticky ground. He was a small fish in a pond of sharks.
Fed up, he became an 'unattached' MLA till this weekend.
Now, he is joining the Congress (I). On election eve.
Most people thought he would jump on to the DMK bandwagon now since he was seen all the time either with the Mayor (DMK), the Deputy Chief Minister(DMK) or the Chief Minister(DMK).
Shekher told me 'there is at least freedom of speech' in the Congress.
Indeed. The Congress values this as much as Shekher does. The party and its men are tad too serious, dull and dowdy. With '100 jokes for 100 minutes' that Shekher promises in all his Alwa dramas, he may well rock that party.
When the news of Shekher's shift was posted online, the first set of feedback did not have nice things to say of him and his decision.
Today, nobody likes a politician. They love 100 jokes though.
Shekher may not have been a model MLA. If you know your metro politics the civil issued well, the local councillors dominate every inch.
Shekher would say metro MLAs have little role to play.
He is partly right.
He stepped out into his constituency. Made sure he was in the right place at the right time and made the right noises. He was seen and heard.
Will this be enough to see him through a new innings?
Comedians, like clowns can make the impossible possible.
Who will have the last laugh?

Roaming festival hawkers

2011-01-29T13:57:00.003+05:30

The Thiagaraja aradhana just got over.

This annual event is an occasion for musicians to pay tribute to one of the greatest composer of Carnatic music, Thiagaraja at the place of his samadhi in the small town of Thiruvaiyaru, close to Thanjavur.

Over five days and nights, 400 plus artistes perform for ten to fifteen minutes on a stage that faces Thiagaraja's shrine.

It is an anjali for musicians, vidwans and rasikas.

Over the years, a mela has grown around this event, much like a festival. This has given a different dimension to the aradhana. While the concerts carry on back to back, morning to late night, townsfolk and Thanjavureans and visitors to the aradhana can also soak in the mela.

Ram Bhat who runs the popular Matsya Restaurant in Egmore and his wife was at Thiruvaiyaru this week; while Ram's wife enjoyed the concerts Ram and I decided to explore the fringes of the fest.

Our first stop was the famed Andavar joint in the town centre known for its Asoka halwa. Passing by this landmark the previous evening, I had seen lots of people sitting at tables and assumed that besides halwa, Andavar would also serve great tiffin.

It did not as we got to know when Ram and I checked in. Two kinds of halwa, a variety of savouries fresh from the kitchen is what you get here. And as a recent concession, Andavar serves only curd rice, sambar and pickle at lunch time. And you can have halwa as dessert.

Ram had already done a recce of the bylanes of this town and was disappointed that not a single food hawker could offer something local. So since a fiery molaga bajji had fired his mouth and he wanted to find out the cause of the fieriness, we went back to the makeshift shop and realised that the hawker sprinkled chilli powder on the molaga bajjis!

We located a few hawkers selling paniyaram. They were good.

But Ram said he could not find local toys or crafts here.

All that was sold was either plastic or cheap, imported stuff. And they were sold by a community of people who travelling around the state, from festival to festival. From towns to cities to villages.

These nomad hawkers lead a life of their own and it is governed by a calendar of festivals. At temples and mosques and churches.

One week they are at a teppam or thai poosam celebration, the next they head to Thiruvaiyaru. It is a mentally-databased calendar that keeps their business going.

They are in Mylapore for the Panguni fest of Sri Kapali Temple, they are at the Annai Vailankanni feast in Besant Nagar and in Nagapattinam and of late, they have included the annual Mylapore Festival in their calendar.

Truly a fascinating life of a colorful community.

Open Science centres to kids

2011-01-22T08:58:00.000+05:30

Curly Wee and Beetle Bailey were my favourite comic strips, courtesy The Mail.
The now-defunct eveninger of our city would be mine after Dad had run through the newspaper rather late. He would be home at about 6 p.m. and every evening he would pick up his copy of The Mail near the Jaffar's roundabout on Mount Road.
The Mail must have inspired me a lot.
Its office was 75 metres from the building where we lived and the only time I got to see it from the outside was on Sundays, when the family would walk down to the bus stop near The Hindu, its neighbour to make it for Sunday Mass at St. Mary's Co-Cathedral on Armenian Street.
On the pillars of the newspaper's office were a few notice boards which carried posters that screamed the top news headline of the day and enticed people to buy a copy.
I wish I had walked into those presses then.
I did a few years later when a senior Ed who used to handle Journalism classes in college invited us over. And our first little news items got published.
I didn't have time to share this story of mine with Prof. Dr. Asit Baran Mandal who is the Director of the world renowned Central Leather Research Institute in Adyar when I met him this past week.
I was a judge for what is perhaps the oldest oratorical competition in the Madras University zone and a prestigious one to win many decades ago. Named after
Dr. A L Mudaliar, a famed Vice-Chancellor of the University, the event has paled over the recent years. CLRI does its best to generate interest but the skills shown on stage were rather poor.
On the sidelines of this event I put it to Dr. Mandal that institutions like his and the many in what may have been a Science City should take more steps to get students from the Adyar neighbourhood to see the facilities, interact with researchers and meet scientists.
Yes, CLRI hosts a bunch of toppers every year.
But it could easily host a group from every Adyar school and help ignite the sparks not only among the brilliant but also among the ones who can only stare at the name boards and cannot enter the campus.
I hope the Prof. Mandals can do this.

Kolam exhibition in Mylapore?

2011-01-14T17:22:00.000+05:30

Can we mount a Kolam Exhibition on a mada veedhi in Mylapore and make it a huge attraction?

This is an idea that played on our mind when cycles, bikes, cars and tourist buses were allowed to run over 113 kolams on North Mada Street once the kolam competition was over last Sunday evening.

The Mylapore Traffic Police did not hustle us but they were under pressure. Demands from frenzied shoppers and impatient motorists who wondered why a kolam fest was held on a road.

In a jiffy, a number of fantastic designs had been smudged. Only a few remained intact when we walked down the mada veedhi later that night to relook at the displays and let our ideas spin.

And then it struck me – could we mount a Kolam Exhibition here next year and make this space special in the time of margazhi.

Barricade one half of the road, allow people to draw kolams at anytime till as late as 10 p.m., mount special lights to floodlight this space and invite the people of this city to enjoy the spectacle.

After all, the kolams are at the centre of the annual Mylapore Festival which is sponsored by Sundaram Finance and they need to be centre stage as ever.

The event deserves the stage. We get people from Aynavaram and Mogappair, kids from ‘Mangollai’ and men from Mambalam who stretch themselves to showcase their best on this veedhi so it would be but proper to think of ways to turn this into a weekend exhibition without inconveniencing Mylaporeans.

If you too have ideas on this, share it with us – at mylaporefestival@yahoo.com

One positive aspect about this Festival is its ability to get inclusive.

Over the years, we have been able to accommodate the women who set up tiffin stalls, the narikuravas from Thiruvanmiyur who park their carts showcasing chains made of beads and nomadic toy-sellers who now have to peddle plastic goods from another land.

These people also add to the colour of such a Fest.

A decade ago we floated a kolam contest which required the judges to go to the door-step of every house that registered.

Today, that event has a life of its own.

If you missed it, enjoy the pictures and videos at www.mylaporefestival.com

Mylapore Festival has more to it this year

2011-01-08T23:35:00.002+05:30

On Sunday morning, when writer-historian V. Sriram starts his heritage walk from the Gandhi statue on the Marina, he will be leading a group of people down the famed Edward Elliots Road.
As he covers a fourth of that long, long road, on the southern side a fleet of five cycle rickshaws will start from Our Lady of Light Church on a tour of inner Mylapore.
Both tours are part of the heritage experiences that are integral to the annual Mylapore Festival which is wholly sponsored by Sundaram Finance.
Sriram says there are at least 40 key personalities he will have to talk about as he takes people on his Edward Elliots Legacy Tour. Which means those who join him at 6 a.m. will have to enjoy a walk that will be over two hours and end at The Music Academy.
The annual Mylapore Festival (on from Jan. 6 to 9) is much more than just three dozen events, food and crafts, kolams, music and heritage.
It is the celebration of spaces, of people and of issues that relate to it.
Chantal has flown in from France to be here to document the two kolam contests (Jan. 8 and 9 - 3.30 p.m. onwards on North Mada Street). She spent many years in India, more in Kerala, learning the arts there. Based in Mylapore's popular Karpagam Hotel, Chantal is soaking in. Hers will be yet another addition to small films which have been made at the Fest as part of a documentation process.
Exhibited on the rolling shutters of the giant house for the temple ther, are a selection of pictures that 12 children took as they went on a PhotoWalk of the area. Hopefully, such visual documents will be repeated to add to the treasure of pictures of Mylapore.
Helped by my artist friend Gita who now works for Madras Craft Foundation, I invited five young artists to sit inside Sri Kapali Temple and paint on 2 x 2 canvases on whatever inspired them here. Their works of art will also be exhibited at the Fest site and sold later.
Two householders have invited us to sit and discuss ways in which we can put their residences which have stood on/off the mada vedhis for over 50 years to good use. Can we make these places community documentation centres? A space for talks and film screenings? A museum?
There is more to the festival and I am glad it is happening.
Do come this weekend.
If you need infor, check out www.mylaporefestival.com. If you can checkout the pictures and the many videos on the website to get the flavour. And if you have friends or relatives who have roots in Mylapore, tell them about all this!

A festival for Mylapore neighbourhood

2011-01-01T10:13:00.000+05:30

When you design and execute a cultural festival in a neighbourhood, all kinds of people become your friends.
You make these friendships on the streets and lanes, in the temples and shops.
And they remain with you.
As yet another edition of the Sundaram Finance sponsored Mylapore Festival rolls on Thursday next ( Jan.6 to 9), I get to renew my ties with most of these people.
There is one person who will not be found in a familiar place.
Nagarajan used to be our godfather of sort on Pitchu Pillai Street where all our young, creative people set up shop and turn the street into an Art Street.
His quaint tiled Mylapore house was just the façade we needed for this street. Nagarajan lost a legal battle recently and had to vacate this place, so we won't have him there any more. But he has not stopped visiting the street that was his home for decades. And we hope he will give us all the help he has rendered these many years.
Lots of people love a festival.
So when we took a bunch of kids on a PhotoWalk on Christmas day, a family which owns a wonderful old house on the mada veedhis invited us in and let the kids enjoy their rosemilk from the world famous Kalathi shop in the corner.
Our longtime cyclerickshaw friends will also be with us, to take 10 people on a slow ride on the Heritage Tour of the area next Sunday.
Our friends who sell flowers and mangoes want to know when they need to shift their shops a bit to accommodate the chairs in front of the main stage.
There is more to a Fest than mere events and action.
People make it.

It's Christmas time!

2010-12-24T23:12:00.000+05:30

There is a bit of the Moore Market spirit at this shop in George Town. And for people who rewind to the past, Moore Market brings fond memories especially at Christmas time.

Good Pastor Depot is something of an institution in its own way. A destination for many senior Catholics of this city.

Located on the ground floor of the huge building behind the landmark Catholic Centre and in the campus of the heritage St. Mary's Co-Cathedral and its neighbour, the equally famed St. Mary's School, this depot as it is called, has everything that a home and a church requires, for religious and for social functions.

I was there a few days ago, on a shopping spree.

A crib set, a little Christmas tree, balloons, illumination serial lights, some buntings and greeting cards.

This is quite a big shopping list by my standards but I enjoyed the experience.

The Brothers of St. Paul, who run this store were swamped that afternoon but they served with a smile as did their staff who were really stretched.

Wonder how cool they would have been today, on Christmas eve!

Shops like these weave magic around you if you suspend your matured ideas! Shops that our kids would love to soak in.

I had waded through the swathes of devotees who head to the cathedral on Tuesdays to pray at the shrine of saint Antony, managed a parking lot inside the Catholic Centre and rewarded myself with extra time at the Good Pastor Depot.

It was a nice experience.

In the old days, the Community Hall on this campus hosted wonderful parties, dances and wedding receptions.

The parish priest says they do not hire out the hall for such functions any more.

Christmas has moved to the five star hotels and swank malls. Not for me, these places.

San Thome Christmas fest

2010-12-18T11:06:00.000+05:30

Putting together a community event or project is not easy in this city.

Not everyone believes there is a role to play in the public space.

A small bunch of people who reside in the San Thome neighbourhood are trying to promote a Christmas event.

This will be the second edition of this festival.

The ideas are small, the goals small. But the effort has to be sustained.

Two women have taken the lead to lend a hand.

Vimala Padmaraj and Sheela D’Souza were part of the team last year. They are on this year too despite the many commitments they have at Christmastime.

This may not be very obvious in San Thome though it is in Mylapore.

Just as many people who live abroad head to Madras on Christmas eve to soak in the

Margazhi music and dance season, a small number also fly in to the city to spend Christmas and New Year with their families in San Thome.

San Thome had a wonderful December season decades ago. Migration of many families led to a decline in the festivities.

The more recent community effort is to allow residents here and others to soak in the season’s spirit, even if you are not a Christian.

Vimala and Sheela are doing all they can to run three events that have been planned.

A party-games-contest mela for children will take place on December 26 afternoon and the team hopes all the children of San Thome and Mylapore and areas on the fringe will sign up (you can call 98846 88984) and have a party!

There is also a Christmas party for senior people. Music, games, eats and fellowship are on the cards. You can call the cell number given above to register. This will be on December 27 evening.

The Revival Singers of San Thome are also doing their best to present a grand music concert in San Thome on December 26 evening. They have invited a band of talented young musicians who will rock the place after the Singers have done their Christmas act.

There should be snacks stalls at the venue - St. Bede’s school campus.

Besides the events, Anthony and his friends of San Thome are coaxing owners of stores and residents on San Thome High Road to illuminate the spaces this season.

Hopefully, the spirit of Christmas will be infectious.

Christmas party at San Thome

2010-12-04T15:32:00.000+05:30

This was unexpected. But welcome. Who would run away from a party?

My first Christmas party for the season arrived at a time I least expected.

On Thursday.

It happened at St. Bede’s that evening.

Vincent Felix always makes it a point to invite me to events at this over-a-century old school. I am glad I accepted his call earlier this week.

Vincent is among the few ‘old boys’ of this Anglo-Indian school who studied here in the 40s. He is 84 (he passed out of school before India became independent) and he has lots of San Thome and Mylapore stories to share.

And when he shares them on the sprawling grounds of St. Bede’s where boarders play vigorous games of hockey and basketball until dusk, these stories come alive.

On Thursday he told me how he was the only dayscholar among seven boarders in senior school who were caught redhanded by the Rector on the beachside, for enjoying the company of the girl-students from other city schools who had to write their final exams at St. Bede’s!

“Today, we celebrate Mother Mary’s birthday so I am sparing you the flogging,” the padre had told the boys. “But you will have to clean the chapel as reparation.”

It was a great evening - for Vincent Felix and members of the Old Bedeans (the alumni) had put together a Christmas party for the boarders, all Anglo-Indians.

There was music, they had Santa, there was a Christmas tree and the boys sang a few carols. And they roared when all of them got gifts, bought by the alumni.

And when the special biryani was served, the boys were the happiest lot present.

The padres were also there and it was a perfect Christmas party.

I only wish the boys’ band had time to perform after dinner. But then, there are rules to follow in a boarding. The show had to close.

For the Old Bedeans present it was indeed a wonderful evening.

Hopefully, there will be many such evenings this Christmas for you.

Welcome to December Season 2010

2010-11-13T13:53:00.000+05:30

It is that time of the year when we work a tad closer with the community of musicians, dancers, sabha managers and gurus of the classical, performing arts.

We are on the edge of yet another December Season - a season when this city hosts hundreds of concerts of Carnatic music and of classical dance and dozens of fringe events.

Many people say that the ‘season’ is getting chaotic, maddening and bloated.

That is because more and more sabhas come alive in December, more and more artistes fight for a place on stage, schedules get longer.

I guess this is some thing you have to live with till the wheat and the chaff get separated.

However, the December season is unique, has a character of its own and must be celebrated and supported.

The web site that we manage - Kutcheribuzz - was a child of the December season. Over a decade ago, we braved monsoon rains and negotiated unhelpful sabha managers to post the concert schedules of all leading sabhas to provide a simple utility space on the Web.

The site has grown in many different ways and directions. But at the core we have tried to get the community to be part of it.

This December season we want to drive the community collaboration further.

We would like to get rasikas to file reports on what they saw and heard in the auditoriums. Those who love taking great photos can also contribute them to the web site.

There is also space for short videos.

Artistes are also welcome to e-mail short notes on their new productions, collaborations or lectures. So can arts institutions.

E-mail us at - editor@kutcheribuzz.com. Or call 044-24994599.

Record your stories

2010-11-04T10:47:00.000+05:30

Did Mylaporeans stick to Mylapore when it came to shopping at Deepavali time or did they go to China Bazaar and Rattan Bazaar?

Who were the big and popular names among neighbourhood shops?

What was the atmosphere at home when the seniors and the young, relatives and friends gathered to make sweets and snacks?

Times like festivals are times when you can indulge in lots of social history.

And record it if one can, simply because much of it does not get into print or go online and because much of these records will die with the passing away of every generation.

At our newspapers we do make an attempt to record memories of people who have great stories to share. These efforts are few and far between because there are countless stories and many story-tellers but very few people who volunteer to document them.

I pause for a few seconds when I run through the Obituary notices of very senior and colourful personalities that reach our desk for publication. We have lost another set of stories that this man or woman may have shared had we had a long conversation . . .

Is it important to record the experiences of people who used trams and state-run transport buses in the past and of major events at school campuses?

Is it useful to collect photos of social events like weddings and grihapravesams that took place in 1960s and to save the annual reports of leading organisations?

Everything that are troves of stories of our past is important.

It is easy now to document all this in the age of technology. But we volunteers.

An NGO needs space ...

2010-10-30T10:44:00.000+05:30

Would you know of some one who would be happy to rent out a portion of their house or property for an organisation that promotes trees?

Rent it out for a nominal amount.

If you do, then Shobha Menon will be extremely happy with the news.

Shobha lives in Kotturpuram and manages ‘Nizhal’. What began as a personal endeavour has now evolved into a Trust which is involved in a host of projects in our city.

Projects that focus on trees.

Protecting trees. Growing more of them. Increasing tree cover. Sensitising people to them and their importance.

Nizhal’s work has been recognised. The Mayor of our city has appreciated its record and service and one of the major projects that the Chennai Corporation has encouraged this NGO to do is to work closely on the greening of the Adyar bank in the Kotturpuram area.

Their Tree Walks invite people to walk through their neighbourhood, get to know avenue trees and the species better and helpcare for them.

This week, Shobha called me because she feels comfortable bouncing ideas on me.

How could Nizhal get a nice space in the city which could be the venue for a permanent exhibition and study centre on trees?

I suggested three options.

One, convince the Mayor to build a space on the banks of the Adyar in the vast expanse that is being greened now. If the city Corporation can promote gyms, study centres, badminton courts and libraries, it can also develop space for the environment.

Two, explore a collaboration with another voluntary organisation, the Rain Centre which is based in Mandaveli and promotes rain water harvesting. This NGO works out of a independent house and it could consider building further to accommodate Nizhal.

There is a third option. Appeal to the community to provide space on rent that a NGO can afford.

Is there some one out there who has a large heart and a green mind?

Ideas for Mylapore Festival

2010-10-23T15:52:00.000+05:30

I want your suggestions.

How do we go about organising an event that must design the biggest kolam on a mada veedhi?

It is that time of the year when I put on another of my caps. That of the director of the annual Mylapore Festival.

The 2011 edition of this Fest, now known in many parts of the world will be from January 6 to 9 on the eve of the Pongal festival.

As we sat down to jot down all the ideas that came by, one was of creating a huge kolam in which everybody who attends the fest on that evening participates.

I will wait for your suggestions.

Yes, we will have the Kolam Contests which are our flagship events. On two days, in the evenings providing space for 125 people each evening.

Here, you may want to share another idea.

For the 2010 contests, we made a departure from the past. We asked the participants to design a kolam on a grid of 24 dots. There were a few apprehensions but when the contest was over, the variety of designs were simply fantastic.

So what is the challenge we could pose to contestants next January?

Your suggestions are welcome.

This is a Festival that uses public and private space even as we remain sensitive to the immediate facilities that are important to residents and businesses.

Hence, challenges confront us each year. With them come suggestions - from well-wishers, patrons and people.

So we are moving the series of talks that we have, talks on themes related to Mylapore to a Mylapore house. The idea came from people who said that since a small number attend such events a more cosy space would enhance the experience.

We are also making sure we have T-shirts for kids. Young parents were disappointed as were their children. They will not be in January 2011.

Little things also make a Festival.

Do share your suggestions please. Mail them to - mylaporefestival@yahoo.com

Getting kids to write local stories

2010-10-16T09:57:00.000+05:30

This is a story I love to retell every time I run writing workshops for children,

It happened during one of our annual summer workshops.

One of the assignments that school students are pushed to do is to go out at short notice, choose a point of observation and take in the details.

Raghav was the fun one in that particular batch. He was itching for action.

So, on one sunny morning when the group reassembled in the hall after the 20 minute assignment, a titter ran through the group. Some tried hard to suppress a laugh. Others giggled. And I could only roll my eyes.

Minutes later Raghav doubled in and everybody burst out laughing.

Well, Raghav had taken his assignment rather seriously that morning. He had decided to check out the ‘wine shop’ which was around the corner at that prominent and busy junction. At first, he stood on the pavement and took in the scene. Then he stepped in and began to ask the salesboys a few questions.

When they realised that Raghav wasn’t going to buy liquor and was proving to be a pest, they threw him out. Watching all this happen were the other members of the group.

I did not hear from Raghav after he finished the course.

But that incident is a nice anecdote to use while training children in journalism.

Every year, at this time we invite school students who wish to get a feel of journalism and want to tap their writing skills to work alongside us on our newspapers.

This is a Childrens’ Day special that we offer this young community.

We spend a couple of hours briefing them and then guide them on their assignments.

All the reports that deserve to be published get into print in November. And the stories go with bylines, the only reward we can offer children.

Over the decade, a few have gone on to graduate in media and become media professionals. Few stick to journalism.

So if there are children out there who wish to sign up, please do so rightaway. This is not a fun assignment. And I will not ask you to visit a wine shop. But if you are game to jump on to a catamaran off Elliots Beach to spot a dolphin and write on this experience, sign up.

Make Kapali temple zone heritage area

2010-10-09T11:47:00.001+05:30

There is a lot we can do about the core of Mylapore.
And when Navarathri unfolds, I go into a tizzy!
It is the time when an idea keeps running through my mind like a crazy worm.
Why don’t we declare the three mada veedhis and their sister lanes WALK ONLY zones?
These veedhis come alive at festival time.
They turn into a fascinating space.
Dolls, flowers, beads, bangles, handicrafts . . .these and more bring alive these veedhis and create a throbbing life that is core to this city.
But madness rules the streets.
Everybody who drives to this place in a car wants to honk, honk and honk to find a parking space.
Every car driver wants to head straight to the destination that is important to him and his family.
Is this not the time to leave our cars and bikes some place away and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the veedhis?
There is a lot we can do about the core of Mylapore.
And when Navarathri unfolds, I go into a tizzy!
It is the time when an idea keeps running through my mind like a crazy worm.
Why don’t we declare the three mada veedhis and their sister lanes WALK ONLY zones?
These veedhis come alive at festival time.
They turn into a fascinating space.
Dolls, flowers, beads, bangles, handicrafts . . .these and more bring alive these veedhis and create a throbbing life that is core to this city.
But madness rules the streets.
Everybody who drives to this place in a car wants to honk, honk and honk to find a parking space.
Every car driver wants to head straight to the destination that is important to him and his family.
Is this not the time to leave our cars and bikes some place away and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the veedhis?

This is a heritage precinct and it must be accorded Grade A status by the city’s planning authority.

And we must get the Mayor and the Head of the Chennai City Traffic Police to support creative ideas that preserve the status of this zone. ( We have a Mayor who now wants to offer cycles on hire to visitors at Marina Beach. So I am sure he will nod for a ‘WALK ONLY’ zone even if it is operative for a few hours every day)

Yes, we also need to have all the residents and businessmen and shop keepers of the zone to sit together and agree to a ‘midway’ solution. Yes, we do want customers to flood the local showrooms but can we ask them not to drive their cars into the dolls set up by a poor hawker from Kosapet?

Yes, it is still warm and sticky but can we coax ourselves to enjoy a nice walk down the veedhis?

And we must get the Mayor and the Head of the Chennai City Traffic Police to support creative ideas that preserve the status of this zone. ( We have a Mayor who now wants to offer cycles on hire to visitors at Marina Beach. So I am sure he will nod for a ‘WALK ONLY’ zone even if it is operative for a few hours every day)

Yes, we also need to have all the residents and businessmen and shop keepers of the zone to sit together and agree to a ‘midway’ solution. Yes, we do want customers to flood the local showrooms but can we ask them not to drive their cars into the dolls set up by a poor hawker from Kosapet?

Yes, it is still warm and sticky but can we coax ourselves to enjoy a nice walk down the veedhis?

Namma Arcot Road launch

2010-10-02T18:13:00.000+05:30

A hotel, a film academy, a school and a group of residents in the Arcot Road neighbourhood are attempting to do something that has not been done before.

To curate and present a bunch of events, once every month which will make this a ‘happening’ neighbourhood.

The Arcot Road area is quite a dull and drab place, especially for people who would like to enjoy a short and light event on a weekend evening.

There are discourses, bhajans and concerts. Nothing more.

Some residents may head to the Café Day coffee shop on the third floor of the Mega Mart store in Alwarthirunagar and gossip, others may head to the Durant Bar at Hotel Green Park and some others may head to Saravana Bhavan or Vasantha Veedu to enjoy a long dinner.

It is against this background that the neighbourhood group is coming together to launch a concept under the banner of ‘Namma Arcot Road’.

The group intends to host a variety of events - talks by interesting speakers, workshops for kids, shows by young musicians, heritage walks in the local area, screen docu-films and do whatever else they can handle with five pairs of hands.

‘Madras Day’ celebrations have certainly inspired this group.

The strong response to a package of events for kids and talks for adults at a local hotel motivated this group.

Their first efforts bore fruit.

They got people who are willing to provide their spaces to hold the events. They have people who are willing to give talks and hold events. And they also got people who promised much and then slipped away!

The ‘Namma Arcot Road’ project is being launched this weekend.

If it is to be successful it has to be a community effort.

Last weekend, two organisations in Adyar put their hands together to host a simple event - the screening of a fantastic wildlife film on India’s Tigers made by the famed Shekhar Dattatri. The response was very good. Adyarites do have lots to choose from.

If the Arcot Road community wants theirs to be a happening place, they have to set aside the TV remote and get off their sofa sets.

Hyper-local advertising

2010-09-25T09:03:00.000+05:30

Hyper-local advertising seems to be on the rise.

Posters, messages and scrawls you get to see at street corners, on TNEB junction boxes and on the avenue trees.

They seem to offer leads to life trends.

Jobs are always on offer.

So are cures for cancer and impotency.

Between the two, the host of services can range from offering to teach you how to download songs or arranging to clean your overhead tank.

Across our office, in the corner of a busy junction we have a hugely popular fruit juice shop. The shop has been written about by all the city dailies and is counted to be among the ten most popular ‘joints’ for young people.

I think it scores high on four counts - range of juices, the quality, the speed with which they are served and the refills most customers enjoy, for free.

I still have not tried out the Sharjah Special here.

At any given time, there are 25 to 30 people hanging out at this joint. So now I know why the abandoned traffic police booth that some sponsor erected at this junction has become the notice board for hyperlocal advertising.

Somebody is looking for housewives, retirees and youth to canvas for SBI Life.

Another is promising assignments that allow you to work from home. Rs.8000 if you work part time, Rs.16,000 if you work fulltime and Rs.5000 if you work all through Sunday. There is a promise too - you don’t have to make phone calls, you don’t have to attain targets. Just work!

There is also a dirty war of handbills that is going on in this nook. Between agents of internet services providers.

Last week, a leading newspaper launched its campaign - it had part time jobs for young people.

Fighting for space and produced on cheap recycled paper are the posters of a Sex Clinic located in a lane of Triplicane.

Hyperlocal advertising does work. You have to choose the locations in the neighbourhood.

Crows above, cars below

2010-09-18T11:07:00.000+05:30

What has been your crow experience?

Have you found the bird cawing at your kitchen window, threatening to fly away with an evening snack? Or providing you the wake-up call so that you can be up for your morning walk?

Everybody has a crow experience.

It may not be the favourite bird but it is perhaps the only one that survives in our neighbourhoods.

For some weeks now, I have been enjoying crows at work. Rather, creating a family.

Our office in Alwarpet is on the second floor and on a busy road where the vroom of traffic has become a part of our working life.

But we do have a bonus. The tall avenue trees whose branches spread across the road and into out building create a circle of green and shade.

Trees are always humming with activity and if you are up there and choose to look closely, you can catch the whirr of the bees which time their entry into our office after dusk, the summer blooms that sail gently on to the tar below and the crows who have made nests.

One nest is metres away from the parapet wall and there is a lot of activity in it I presume.

It looks firm and cosy but to me it seems to be in a precarious position - a sway of the lead branch and that nest and all the eggs or lives in it will hurtle to the tar below.

It is a foolish thought. Birds have brains and this set of crows must have made a wide choice too.

The past week, I observed that the crow was content to sit in the nest and keeping warm the eggs in there. While one crow does the job, another keeps watching from a closer branch.

Curious, I spoke to K. S. Sudhakar of the Madras Naturalists Society who is a practising chartered accountant and has an office down the corridor. Do the male and the female take turns to help in the hatching? Do crows really care for their chicks?

They do care, Sudhakar tells me. It is the koels who ‘hijack’ the nests of the crows. These birds lay their eggs in a crows nest and let the latter do the rest! When they come back, they may even sideline the crow’s chicks. . .

In the nooks and braches of our neighbourhoods, despite all the destruction and mess, nature survives.

Do the crows trust us?

Grassroot democracy in Chennai

2010-09-11T11:46:00.002+05:30

Did you know that the Mayor of our city is an early riser, devotes at least 30 minutes to yoga and is willing to go that extra mile to support those who work for the less-abled?

M. Subramaniam is seen as a pro-active Mayor. At least, he is not seen merely waving flags at DMK rallies (of which he is a senior member) or snoring in his chambers.

Someone told me that our Mayor occasionally goes out into the city incognito to get a better understanding of the city, its residents and his staff.

I have not caught him in dark glasses, Tees and faded jeans on an electric cycle in our neighbourhood.

But I believe that something did tick in his head recently.

Mayor Subramaniam has authorised the formation of local groups for each of the wards of our city.

They can discuss local issues, debate ways in which to address them and chart local plans.

Wards are a collection of colonies in a neighbourhood. A councillor represents each ward at the Corporation Council and he/she is elected by people. Some wards are reserved. These councillors handle local issues, mainly civic and they have a say in these affairs at the local, zonal and city level.

The system then represents democracy at the grassroot level.

But does it really work?

No.

The elections are marred by money power, goondaism and manipulation and most people never participate in them.

Elected councillors rarely interact with local communities and are often seen working closely more with officials and contractors than local people and their representatives.

Civic works and development do not often address what the communities want. So while workers are busy relaying the pavement alongside a 30-feet bridge with fancy tiles, the pavements on either side are in a shambles. And while saplings are being planted on 3rd Avenue, bushes have over-run the sidewalks of 3rd Street.

Mayor Subramaniam says he wants people, NGOs and civic groups to work alongside councillors and his officials at the ward level.

You have a role to play. Want to?

Art in Chennai's Public Spaces

2010-09-04T12:54:00.000+05:30

The Goethe Institut, more commonly known as Max Mueller Bhavan in Chennai is celebrating its golden jubilee.

The big day is to be celebrated late this year but the events have begun to unfold.

German language teachers, retired staff, artists, actors, directors, dancers and curators and all those who have had strong bonds with the Bhavan have been treated to warm parties where nostalgic memories were shared.

One interesting project to mark this jubilee caught my attention. And the man who will put it together is artist B. O. Sailesh who lives and works from Cholamandal.

The Bhavan has been located in the Thousand Lights neighbourhood for about 25 years at three different addresses.

Its current modern premises stands at a key intersection. On one side are the sprawling bungalows of the rich who live behind huge gates, many of which are making way for stores and boutiques for the wealthy of our city. On the other is a neighbourhood where the poor and the middle-class reside.

Sailesh has an art installation in mind - to be ready later this year. And he proposes to create this piece of work from things that people who reside here have no use for.

His team will go door to door, brief the residents of this project and come back to make the collection.

Sailesh is trying to see how this concept ties into the jubilee of the Bhavan that has played a great role in this city. And how the dynamics of the collection and installation relates the MMB to its neighbourhood.

Chennai Corporation lost a great opportunity to encourage a similar process when the City Fathers decided to paint the public walls, especially those on the main roads.

Cultural icons, tourist destinations, natural landscapes and excerpts from the Thamizh epics greet those who choose to slow and stare.

When the project was mooted, it was decided to contract the students of the well known College of Arts in Periamet for this assignment. The contract fell because the civic body could not match the fee the college wanted.

So the jobs were given to the men who once created those gigantic and colourful promos for our films and elections.

Most of them are without much work with the era of the over powering flexi-sheets. Flexi-banners greet guests to a kid’s first birthday. So these contracts will hopefully bring them some money.

However, had Mayor Subramaniam and his team networked with neighbourhood groups and artistes, schools and residents and encouraged them to take over public walls, that art would have been truly of the people.

Making neighbourhoods lively

2010-08-28T11:51:00.004+05:30

Binita Sashi and Gargi Advaithi love children. So they have created their world around them.
Both reside in K. K. Nagar in the western neighbourhood of this city and while they manage their own ventures in the sprawling neighbourhood still dominated by the Housing Board apartment blocks, they put their heads together to organise workshops and summer camps.
The duo were also responsible for a string of events to mark Madras Day. The gracious general manager of the Green Park Hotel in Vadapalani volunteered to provide a banquet hall free of cost and even offered refreshments to the guests who enjoyed workshops, story-telling and two talks.
The attendance at this event on a wet Sunday triggered ideas in Binita and Gargi.
Of the need to create and host such events that would make this part of the neighbourhood a happening place.
Religious discourses, classical music concerts and Sanskrit and Bhagawad Gita classes populate the calendar here. A play or a fun fete pops up as a surprise.
And Binita and Gargi feel that it is time they made an effort, a real, earnest effort to provide this neighbourhood with some interesting programmes.
Public talks on fascinating subjects seem easy to think of. If a network of speakers can be built and the owners of spaces like Hotel Green Park can play host, then the talks will fill the annual calendar.
The duo have worked closely with a local school which has a large but simple auditorium. Now this space can be used to stage plays in Thamizh and English or hold theatre workshops. If groups can volunteer freely, then another set of dots will fill the neighbourhood calendar.
Binita and Gargi are setting out to play a role in the public space. And if you can help in any way, I am sure the duo will appreciate it (contact - 99404 50495/ 96000 83124).
Look at how Sadanand Menon has made available two wonderful spaces at 1, Elliots Beach Road in Besant Nagar to any body which wants to host not-for-profit events - rock concerts, plays, film screenings, talks. . .

Communities celebrate the Madras Week

2010-08-21T23:59:00.001+05:30

Ashwin Prabhu says missing Madras Day hurts.
A CitiBank executive now based in New York Ashwin is one of the many who would give a hand to soak in these celebrations.
A keen quizzer and winner of many a quiz, he says what he will miss most is the annual Madras Quiz, scheduled for August 22 afternoon at a school in Mylapore ( info is at www.themadrasday.in).
I posted Ashwin’s e-mail on the blog that is part of the Madras Day web site (www.madrasday.blogspot.com). I felt it reflects the passion and intensity that many people have begun to express for this city now called Chennai.
As the ‘Madras Week’ enters its final phase, I realise that there is a lot more than the events, talks and contests that is beginning to well up.
Gallery promoter Chitra in Alwarpet located references to the contribution made by her great grandfather while working alongside architect Robert Chisholm who left his stamp on this city with his brand of Indo-Saracenic architecture.
Chitra’s curiosity led to a collection which she went on to display at her gallery in Alwarpet.
Out there in suburban Nanganallur, a community which organised an event for the first time, invited two of the earliest residents of what is called a mini Mylapore to narrate stories of the early days of this colony.
Antique collector Moses brought a small but fascinating collection of coins, pictures, books and maps to an exhibition that is on till Sunday evening at Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram in Kilpauk. Buttons worn by the Governor’s music bands, kerosense lamps used in bungalows and a rice measure (‘padi’) made in Madras!
Former Railwayman and numismatist G. Ram Mohan of Alwarpet timed the release of his little book on his life and times for this week. The famed colony of Palathope, Mylapore dominates the narrative.
People have begun to treat their own histories seriously and are proud about them. Some have begun to collate and document them.
People, communities and neighbourhoods make a city. Not just politicians, statesmen, filmstars and business barons.

Madras Week

2010-08-14T10:02:00.000+05:30

Where in Madras would you find Beer Shop Lane?

This could make a straight but heady question for a Madras Quiz. And I wonder if quizmaster Balaji Thirumalai would want to include it for the Madras Open Quiz that he will conduct in Mylapore in the afternoon on August 22.

We were intrigued when musician Barry Rosario took us around the Perambur which was the hub of the Anglo-Indian community once upon a time.

I am sure Mayor Subramanian will not be amused with this name if his zonal officers consider to rename this street but if they do so, a bit of local social history will be wiped off the local map.

‘Madras Week’ (August 15 to 22) provides an opportunity to do many useful things focussed on the city.

Research for talks or texts that can be presented to an invited audience. Collect photos and documents for an exhibition. Videograph for documentaries that can be screened across the city.

It also provides the space for people who possess histories, documents and stories to make them known to a larger audience.

Recently, I spent time at the small archives of the Madras-Mylapore diocese of the Catholic Church at the Bishop’s House in San Thome.

Father Vijay Kiran, who holds a doctorate in this field has taken charge as the archivist and is in the process of setting this dusty, messy house in order. It will be a long and arduous task but a worthy one if the local church and the Bishop support this hugely important project.

I have invited the priest to give a talk on the Cathedral next week and I hope this will encourage others to do so in future.

Another person who may be able to present a colourful talk is Keith Peters. I sounded him out when we met at the funeral service of Mithran Devanesan, Madras’ maverick theatreperson who passed away this past week. (Mithran too would have had stories to tell of the city’s English theatre history).

Keith, a bass guitarist is a regular at A R Rahman’s studio and concert tours. We grew up in the 60s on the fringe of Mount Road and music was always in the air. For, the Anglo-Indian musicians abounded in this part of the city - Royapettah, Pudupet, Mount Road, Thousand Lights . . .

There is a lot happening in Madras that is Chennai. Soak in. More is at www.themadrasday.in.

Vote for best sambhar!

2010-08-07T12:07:00.002+05:30

Would you have Chennai or Madras on your Tee?
The prize-winning entry for a Tee contest held last year for Madras Day had the Chennai legend.
Sonali Seth submitted a design and worked on it after her entry was chosen to be the best.
That design has gone on the Tees (available in black / white) which are now on sale (you may see an image of the Tee on Madras Day’s Facebook link).
But two keen followers don’t think Chennai is apt.
Rajkumar Brian seemed unhappy and said so in so many words while quiz-whiz V. V. Ramanan shared the sentiment. Said Ramanan - We are celebrating Madras Day!
Comments, feedback and suggestions are always welcome. (You will see many more on the Facebook page)
They make this unique event organic.
There were lessons to learn from the Photowalk for Kids that Yocee organised in Triplicane last Sunday. From Ratna Café to Presidency College
(I breakfasted at Ratna 3 weeks ago on the famed idli-sambar combo and felt that Ratna’s sambar is not the best in Madras. My schoolmate friend C. K. Murali who grew up in Purusawalkam says Welcome Hotel in that area serves the best sambar - go on and nominate your ‘best sambar’ joint of Madras).
Kids were invited to shoot stuff that fascinated them but they were equally curious and wanted to learn more. Of horse-drawn carriages and old bus stop boards and of Hindu High School . . .
The walks for this year seem very attractive. Pradeep mails to say he has closed his tour of Madras’ temples in George Towne (90 have signed up) and surely, Sriram must be packed with that ‘See George Towne by Night’ that ends with a glass of hot milk!
The good news is that small groups across the city have also designed events. And if you have not, there is a week to think of one.
Street Food of Chennai anybody? A walking-eating tour!

St. Thomas Mount. Triplicane. Hertitage and nooks

2010-07-31T11:49:00.000+05:30

What is bunk tea?
Tea made in the bunkers? Tea not made from tea leaves?
We were at the foothills of St. Thomas Mount. Richard O’Connor had come to meet me because we wanted to make a recce of this area and find out if there was a possibility of hosting a Heritage Walk for the Madras Week celebrations.
It was 4.30 p.m.
‘Would you like to have bunk tea before we set out?’
I was puzzled.
There exists a colourful lexicon of the Anglo-India language and though I have moved with them for many years, I had not heard of ‘bunk tea’.
Richard, who works for the Customs at Chennai Airport Complex and lives on the ‘hill’ pointed out to the tea shop with the asbestos roof, as if to answer me.
‘That’s the bunk!’
I got it.
And from the teashop owner there was more to learn when I asked him why the tea looked orangish.
‘People want it strong so we mix Kannan Devan and 3 Roses’.
I thought of that blackboard kept outside the old India Coffee Depot off Mount Road, behind India Silk House and the coffee mix they offered to customers.
There is so much you discover, experience and feel when you volunteer to take a closer look at places.
Anwar, photographer and researcher was tentative about hosting a Heritage Walk that took you to the last days of the Nawabs.
So I joined him for a recce of the Palace of Chepauk and of Triplicane. This area was our haunt when we were teenagers. But Anwar had the history of places we took for granted included a simple arch over a street that is 6 feet wide.
When we looked around for a tea shop, we stopped at a nook that sold samosas, vadas and a sweet made from beaten rice and sugar sold in a street where once the devadasis are said to have lived that bordered a
quiet mosque.
Madras Day / Week will hopefully show you a city you have not known or seen or felt. www.themadrasday.in is your guide.

anglos' music world in Madras

2010-07-24T12:56:00.000+05:30

Pals. Kwalitys. Gaylords.

What is the connection?

If you lived in Madras of the 60s you may have heard of them.

They were the popular entertainment spots for those who could afford them.

Music. Dining out. Cabaret.

And all of them were on Mount Road, now Anna Salai.

All three have passed into history.

A soiled shred of the Pals avatar seems to survive today in the area where the original was on swing. But you wouldn't even want to climb the grimy staircase that promises to take you to some evening entertainment.

With a wine shop-bar on the ground floor one can imagine what to expect in that dark hall.

The past weeks I have been working on what will be a documentary on the Anglo-Indian Community's world of music in Madras.

So I have been listening to stories of pre-Independent Madras and of the city of the 50s and 60s, of the heydays of the film recording studios, of the canabalisation of orchestras by electronic music and the dominance of the DJs.

Pals, Kwalitys and Gaylords provided these musicians spaces to perform and earn some good money after dusk.

Sadly, we have not been able to get our hands on pictures of these places that must find a place in a docu-film. Our search will have to prolong.

But the stories we are recording are fascinating.

Earlier this month, we enjoyed recording a packed rocking concert at the Museum Theatre. Themed "Blazing Guitars", this concert featured Anglo-Indian musicians and was 100% country music.

There is more to do. Beatrix D' Souza of San Thome, professor, writer and former MP promises to tell us stories of the days of the Governor's Bands in Government Estate in pre-1947 India and musician Barry Rosario will be our guide through Perambur where the Railway Institute was the music and dance hub.

If you have pictures and stories to share, do e-mail.

Community Websites

2010-07-17T14:32:00.001+05:30

We launched the beta version of the Mylapore Times web site a few weeks ago.

Built on a WordPress structure and designed for our needs by R. Revathi who runs the Yocee web site for the children of Chennai, we have kept things simple and straight.
And we have begun to post reports and pictures more frequently nowadays and will be graduating to daily posts soon.

We have also received the first stream of comments and feedback.

One suggestion has remained with me this past week.
A lady said that if we could provide some basic inputs that media requires, then people like her who are strong in their language skills but cannot be at a fulltime assignment could edit or write for us.

A web site scores when it is driven by the community, more so in the case of all the newspapers that I am involved in. And I believe that we must involve interested people.

I have been learning and sharing lessons with our experience at Arcot Road Times (www.arcotroadtimes.com).

The better experience has also come from the ten years plus that we have spent on KutcheriBuzz (www.kutcheribuzz.com).

What does stand out is the need to involve the community.
We don’t have to teach people how to write or how to email.
We need to show people what kind of content can make web sites like ours work, we need to learn from the tech-savvy readers small things that can better the user experience and we may want to share with people how we work and how they can join us closely.

In the days to come, we intend to have small meetings in the neighbourhood.
The outcome will help us as we steer the sites in Mylapore and later in Adyar.

Meanwhile, your feedback and ideas are welcome.
Mail me at mylaporetimes@vsnl.com or at adyartimes@gmail.com

Chennai or Madras

2010-07-12T12:15:00.000+05:30

Should Chennai Corporation create a space for citizens to discuss, debate and discourse on issues that affect our city?
It should.
It does.
It does by way of providing space, time and funds to councillors who are elected in 155 wards of this city. Councillors who are supposed to speak for the community they represent.
But do the real issues come up?
Take the case of the proposal to change the names of streets and roads.
A city’s civic body should have opened up the issue for discussion and debate, sought ideas and suggestions.
These would have enlightened all of us, the councillors and the Mayor.
‘Madras Musings’, the fortnightly devoted to all that is Madras and Chennai ran columns on the history behind the names of prominent street and road names. In a way, it gave all of us the hint that the names of people who had contributed to this city should be retained.
Chennai Corporation oftentimes takes its people for granted. Or sidelines them.
This week, a small group of residents of the Leith Castle area in San Thome said they visited the city Mayor to impress upon him the need to retain the name and gave him a bit of the history behind it.
They returned disappointed because the Mayor dismissed their contention and said so coldly.
I was amused when I read that the Corporation had even asked two new hotels to change their names because Mount Road was part of their names.
The reasoning - since Mount Road was renamed Anna Salai years ago, the former could not be used.
These are proper names and I don’t see how a civic body can keep ordering people and exceeds its powers.
It is a form of extremism. And it should be challenged.
It is up to citizens to get the Corporation to open up, to provide it a space for debate and to respect its views.
So speak up when you need to.

Madras Day 2010

2010-07-03T08:38:00.000+05:30

The 2010 celebrations of Madras Day, that is Chennai Dinam will take place from August 15 to 22.

Being one of the catalysts of this event, I thought it would be appropriate for me to trigger an interest in all those people who want to take a lead in the celebrations.

Madras Day is of, by and for the people of this wonderful city.

What began as a one-day event has now become a week-long affair with over 100 events across the city.

Talks, heritage walks, exhibitions, contests, sales, film shows, music and dance . . . .all these have been conceived, hosted and run by people.

We do not have a centralised command, we do not engage a event management company, we do not go after sponsorship and funds.

But we do seek out hyperactive communities, groups and clubs who have the capacity, resources and passion to get involved, come up with their own event and celebrate this city.

Here are some leads you can build on now (we are seven weeks away from the event).

If you live in an interesting neighbourhood you can organise a heritage walk and make people aware of the greatness of the area.

Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Vadapalani, Vepery, George Town, Kottur, Royapuram, Gopalapuram, Triplicane. Every neighbourhood has its landmarks, its famous people and its distinct architecture. Do some research, plan the route and invite people and end the walk with a nice breakfast!

If you have senior people who have stories to share of Madras of the 50s and 60s, organise a talk.

If people can share old photos of the city, present a slide show or have an exhibition.

A show on Anna Nagar or of K K Nagar or of East Coast Road as it was 25 years ago. The neighbourhood will be fascinated.

Organise a fun cycle/bike/car rally - give people clues on the city’s less-known landmarks and drive them off to locate them. End with a picnic at Fort St. George or in Guindy Park or atop St. Thomas Mount.

Your effort is vital to celebrate this city. You can get backgrounders on the past celebrations at www.themadrasday.in. If you have queries, mail them to madrasday@yahoo.com.

And when you do finalise your event share the info with us.

Now, take a look at what a young city-based band called Null Friction did with a song called ‘ Madras’. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyqxFZ2x8jw.

Renaming Chennai Streets

2010-06-26T10:06:00.000+05:30

There is a move in Sastri Nagar, a neighbourhood in Adyar to rename the streets and roads.
Some busy bodies said that since the City Fathers have decided to consign most British names to the bin and rename streets after Thamizh scholars it is time a nagar does its bit.

I have been invited to put in my two-bits because some one said I indulge in history and heritage.
So they said as long as I refrain from suggesting Portuguese and Armenian names I could contribute.
But there is a lot of work on our hands. There are 15 Cross Streets and 10 lanes in this nagar. And one main road.

I agreed with the busy bodies that the Cross Streets are pretty dull as far as names for streets go.
When I first moved to this neighbourhood I thought the simple names made sense. It would be easy for guests and visitors to locate our places since there was a logical process in naming the streets.
But when a young man came looking for ‘Pepsi’ Uma’s residence and we made some enquiries, then we realised there were a few bends in the location of some streets.

15th Cross Street was not located after 13th and 14th but on the fringe of the nagar. The Corporation officials must have got it wrong somewhere when they plotted this place.

I find that most people do not use the name of the street. They know them by the name of the personalities who reside there. I used to refer to Vazhapadi Ramamurthy’s place when he used to live closeby till his death. My istriwallah kept referring to the Governor’s street as his alternate space! ‘Pepsi’ Uma, the TV anchor joined the name call more recently.

So here we are with the grand idea of dumping the Cross Streets and Straight Lanes of our nagar. Our busy bodies say we act fast to pre-empt the City Father from burdening us with names that are two metres long. And of people we never knew or have not seen.

Veteran Congressman P. Ramachandran used to be our neighbour so I wonder if our street may want to have his name. Maybe the City Fathers should leave it to the community to rename their streets.

Whatever our busybodies do, I would not want them to change Cart Track Street! This is a small patch that links two busy roads. It used to be the only path for carriages from this part of Adyar headed to the sandy swathes now called Besant Nagar. The past is important for the future.

Cart Track Street - it is there in the Corporation’s records!

List heritage places

2010-06-19T10:54:00.000+05:30

If you are aware of red brick buildings built in the 19th century in the city, one man is interested in your leads.
D. Hemachandra Rao is back at his research and documentation desk for another project.
Documenting the red public buildings of Madras.
A retired civil engineer and heritage enthusiast, Rao has many documentations to his credit.

Last year, he completed an assignment on the classical bridges in our city and made it the theme of a special postal cover. Since then, he has been writing to the Chennai Corporation to make the best use of these old bridges, known for their architectural design and not to demolish them.

Rao has gone on to shoot pictures of the red buildings. And there are a good number around. The landmarks inside the Museum complex in Egmore, the buildings along the Marina and in the Goshen Hospital campus in Triplicane (‘Gosha Hospital’) and the Veterinary Hospital campus in Vepery.

He has some more on his list, including the oldest set of police stations like those in Mylapore, Royapettah, Chintadripet and Triplicane.

And if you do know of others which stand out for this unique building style, Rao will be happy to get your leads (you can call him on 98408 70172).

If you are proud of our heritage there a bit more you can do now.

Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has invited us to suggest a listing of all heritage buildings which it will locate, evaluate and notify later.

It accepts suggestions on places which are of historical significance in terms of people who lived there or events that took place on the premises. You can also suggest buildings for architectural design and spaces of cultural heritage.

CMDA intends to work towards drawing up a Heritage Act that will protect these landmarks and provide their owners with bonuses like special land development rights.

You can send suggestions to the CMDA office in Egmore or e-mail them to cmdaheritage@tn.gov.in

Look around your neighbourhood and start listing.

Exploring St. Thomas Mount

2010-06-12T12:47:00.002+05:30

I play a tourist guide when relatives and friends pass through this city. And there is one tour that I promise them for obvious reasons.

A church tour.

This tour starts at the Cathedral in San Thome, touches the Annai Velankanni Church in Besant Nagar and the church atop the ‘little mount’ in Saidapet and ends at Saint Thomas Mount.

Recently, my friends suggested that they would have time for just one destination and since they were to take a flight out, I suggested Saint Thomas Mount.

I did not take them directly up the hill to the church. Rather we decided to explore the area at the foothill.

St. Thomas Mount was a cantonment of the British. It began in a small way and expanded over years to include the areas of Meenambakkam and Pallavaram.

Today, a Catonment Board runs the administration of this region of our city. Little of the heritage of the 18th century survives, but a walk around the foothills of the mount is rewarding, especially if you do it on a Sunday morning.

Barracks, offices, an ancient Garrison church, the polo ground, garages, stables, parade grounds . . . this area has a lot to offer the interested traveller.

The walk up the hill - you may choose the pathway of steep steps or the metal road - is a nice experience. And at the summit, the tour of the small heritage church and the splendid views of the city are a reward for time well spent.

An ideal way to maximise the fun element of this trip is to include a picnic brunch/lunch, partaken on the top of this mount. Sandwiches, juice, fruits and cakes!

There are many neighbourhoods on the fringes of our city which are attractive picnic destinations.

Some are dominated by temples, some retain architectural classics, others treasure the relics of the British, a few retain the village that the area once was and a few others are home for trees, birds and butterflies.

If you have been to some exciting destinations in or around our city, do let me know.

And if you haven’t had a picnic for some time, plan one now.

Vox pops on sensitive issues

2010-06-05T08:57:00.000+05:30

What do you do when a cardiologist at a well known hospital insists that your dad has to undergo an angiogram without waiting for the results of the preliminary tests and you begin to have doubts about the consultation?

And you soon get feedback that the doctor likes to take his patients to the operation theatre?

First, you seek an alternative and save your dad from an ordeal. Two, you warn others of dangers that lurk in our hospitals, however reputed they claim to be.

Earlier this week, I received a mail from a person who said he had a tense time at a city hospital. The mail detailed his unnerving experience and the things he had to do to get out of the situation.

Obviously, this mail was doing the rounds of all those who were on the correspondent’s contact list.

How does one handle issues that relate to medical services which are sensitive and complex?

How do we brief people on our ‘experiences’ at hospitals and clinics when we have to deal with ‘grey areas’?

You can take the serious issues to court.

But what about basic issues that bother us at hospitals, banks, temples and police stations?

Today, the Net provides the space and medium to highlight these issues as and when they happen. Also, they reach a larger number of people and sensitises them to slack services, hefty billings, crafty schemes or shoddy work.

When our readers write to us on such issues, we publish the letters that touch on broader issues which we think affect the lives of the community.

There must be some space for vox pops.

Banks, hospitals and state agencies certainly do not take kindly to the publication of such issues.

‘Had it been brought to our notice we could have easily handled it.’ This is what many would say.

Today though, lots more is being communicated on the Net. And some of it is shaping opinion and impacting on the people, businesses or agencies they are critical of. Especially when the observation is genuine and reasonable.

Local avenues for youth

2010-05-29T15:38:00.000+05:30

Sai Janani is one of the students who attended a fortnight long course in Journalism and Writing that we ran at the ‘Adyar Times’ office.

She lives in Tambaram and when she queried about this short course I asked her twice if she would want to travel the distance to attend classes held in Adyar.

She was firm on her decision and she had a plan too.

After class, Janani would hop across to her grandmom’s house closeby, refresh, have lunch, take a bus to Tambaram, scout for a news story, do the field work and get back to Adyar to her grandmom’s place to repair for the night.

It was easier to stay in Adyar and be on time for class than chase a Tambaram-Adyar bus.

If travel was tiresome, finding stories was daunting. But Janani seems to have persevered.

She wrote on a local kho kho team which has done well and is training local lads. She quizzed PWD engineers who were directing road widening work in Tambaram and she spent time at a ‘home’ for AIDS-infected women run by an NGO.

For a novice, for some one who is in school, the effort was good. And I am sure the girl, like many others who attended this course must have learnt a few new skills.

However, the course made it very apparent to me how little people seem to know of their neighbourhood.

Is it important for young people to know their environment?

I think it is.

For this knowledge, experience and understanding will stand in good stead now and in the future.

There are many avenues where you can start.

Local newspapers are surely great starting points. They provide you a variety of assignments that take you to different places and people and put you in different situations. So if you are the sort who likes to meet and talk to people and write, this is one avenue.

If you are nature or civic conscious, join the activities of a community group. One that works on the beach or protects turtles, or a group that works at a local nature reserve.

Get involved in an active association for residents of the colony where you live. A body which not only deals with issues that affect its members but also addresses issues like traffic management and security in the locality.

Not-for-profit social welfare bodies are another starting point for youngsters.

You don’t have to look beyond the neighbourhood if you really want to get involved.

2010-05-22T10:31:00.002+05:30

Dr. Reddy’s Foundation is a unique Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.
It runs short training courses which impart basic and special skills to poor youths and prepares them for a job in different sectors.
Thousands of young men and women have benefited from this Foundation which is promoted by the hugely successful Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in Hyderabad.
The Foundation runs a few centres in our city.
Earlier this month, the head of the Chennai Chapter of the Foundation ( contact phone - 23651797) mailed a brochure and a letter with a request.
It was an appeal to the local media to publicise the short term courses offered locally so that people would be aware of them and also share this information with families and youths who stand to gain from it.
In the city, there are courses in retailing and hospitality, sales and BPO and they are run in places like Mint and Velachery, Triplicane and Ayanavaram, typically neighbourhoods where the need is immense.
I shared this information with a teenager who has been working part time at our office. Ayyappan, a Chennai School student has just got his Plus Two exam results and he is not in the clouds. He did not score high in math and chemistry and though he has begun applying for engineering courses, he is unsure.
Ayyappan’s parents work in the construction industry and they are hoping that their son will study further and get a job that will change the course of his life.
Information and opportunities like the ones that Dr. Reddy’s is providing to youths like Ayyappan rarely reach their homes or schools. Hence, they are not able to make the most of what is on offer alternatively.
We must create an informal/formal channel which makes available such information to those who can gain from it.
Our photographer R. Saravanan at Mylapore went that extra mile to locate and talk to two students who topped in their schools. He came back with stories of young people who just cannot afford college education though they have excelled.
Perhaps the request for financial support from the well-off will change the course of these lives.
There are many more in our neighbourhoods who can make a mark if they are provided small funds and educational and vocational guidance.
You have the opportunity to contribute.

Housing Board colonies become history

2010-05-15T11:28:00.001+05:30

K. K. Nair used to be a battle-scarred veteran in the Sports Department of the Indian Express when I started freelancing for this newspaper in the early 80s.
He was the sort who never knew retirement.
I lost contact with Nair when I went my way, though I heard later that he was given an assignment with the group’s publication on astrology!
Recently, I renewed contact with him.
We run a column called ‘Rewind’ at the Arcot Road Times (www.arcotroadtimes.com) which features senior residents of this neighbourhood who recall their early days in the area.
It is, in some ways a social history document. We ask people to talk about the geography and the features of the area, their living experiences and the day to day practices that dominated their lives in the 50s/60s/70s.
Nair was not exactly the first set of people who came to live in K. K. Nagar, a neighbourhood designed and promoted by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board to provide affordable housing to people.
Those were the days when the Board either sold plots or built apartments of the ‘M’ and ‘T’ type - in K. K. Nagar, Anna Nagar and in Besant Nagar.
Nair was aware of the Board’s offers but he says he did not have the money to think of investing in property till somebody forced him to apply, put in a word and a plot was allotted to him under the journalists’ quota!
Nair had loads of stories to share for the ‘Rewind’ column including one on how the thick scrublands and small groves in West K. K. Nagar and Nesapakkam provided just the conditions for small groups to brew local liquor and sell it after dusk.
And he still could not forget the day he had to employ men to chop down a huge mango tree in his compound that gave abundant fruit every year and was a kind of landmark on his road.
Today, the face of all these Housing Board colonies that were promoted in the city is changing. And the change is rapid.
All the ‘M’ and ‘T’ type blocks, the artisan plots and the larger houses are giving way to rows and rows of new blocks of apartments.
Since all these plots were large, the space to develop is substantial and real estate companies are happily grabbing the rights to demolish the HB blocks and build modern ones.
In many ways then, the Housing Board features which dominated the neighbourhoods of Ashok Nagar and
K. K. Nagar, Besant Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur, Anna Nagar and Mogappair are lapsing into history.
Nair, like many others, now lives in an apartment, having sold his plot to developers. But he is happy that he lives close to a Sri Ayyappa Temple where he is an active volunteer.

Spirit of Summer Holidays

2010-05-08T08:36:00.004+05:30

Summer madness.
You may have heard of it.
Summer freedom.
You may have witnessed it.
You will, if you stay home on weekdays.
Groups of young boys doing the rounds of the neighbourhoods, free from the drudgery of the routine of school and the burden of examinations.
Last week, still in bed as the clock sounded the morning hour of seven I heard a collective roar float across the colony.
It took some time for me to assume that the exclamations were coming in from the north where the local playground is located.
Later, as I left for work I noticed bands of boys of all sizes and shapes trudging out of the ground carrying bats, balls and stumps.
They must have had their fill of a quick cricket match played on empty stomachs and it was now time to take a break.
The boys wore colourful clothes. Tees, shorts, cargos.
Boys often want to amuse themselves all the time. Some just cannot keep their hands to themselves.
And in summer, there is only one target – mangoes.
There is a certain thrill in bringing down mangoes from trees in a neighbourhood garden. Looking for the proper stones, taking aim, knocking down the fruit and scampering from yelling house-owners or irritated watchmen.
Summer freedom.
The boys who live close to the beach enjoy a picnic every other day.
Patrolling policemen and warning boards do not stop these boys from doubling across the sands and diving into the sea.
They are always looking for adventure. Perhaps to hijack a lone catamaran. Or look for a perch that can serve as a diving board.
The sane among them paddle or roll around on the shore a dozen times and conduct another game of cricket on the sands. Beach cricket, like 20:20 has its own thrills.
Boys love to take out their cycles this season. Riding doubles and trebles adds to the thrill. There are nooks to be explored.
The quiet end of the beach, a leafy bungalow whose owners are out on their holidays or the far corner of an untenanted campus.
Simple joys of summer hols.

Neel Metal Fanalca has failed

2010-05-01T08:42:00.000+05:30

This is an ‘open’ letter to the Mayor of Chennai, M. Subramaniam.

And it has to do with the private agency which has been signed on by the City Fathers to clear and dispose garbage in four zones of this city. Neel Metal Fanalca.

We have a Mayor who is at work. Consistent, on-the-job and committed too.

So I hope he gives this issue more than passing attention.

Yesterday, in the city council, many councillors had only harsh words for this agency. Some of them wanted the Corporation to terminate this contract. Some others wanted stringent action.

The Mayor has promised to act - he says he will pack off Neel Metal from one of the zones where it operates.

Many people would tell him that he should pack them off for good.

Neel Metal has to go. Now.

This is a company that just did not do its job from the month it took charge.

It never learned from its mistakes. It refused to improve and it seems to be enjoying its contract despite criticism from all sides.

And so I wonder, and so do many others - how does the state tolerate such an agency?

Neel Metal is paid well for the job it has been contracted to do. It had lessons to learn, follow or adapt from Onyx, the private agency which did the same job in the earlier years.

But it has failed. Miserably.

The money that is paid to Neel Metal is from the money we tax-payers pay to the city Corporation.

It has to be accountable. But it has not been so.

How then does Mayor Subramaniam, who is so keen about the state of this city allow this agency to carry on with its shoddy work?

I do not think Neel Metal can be given a third chance.

So, Mr. Mayor, instead of packing it off from one zone, pack it off for good and please find a better alternative.

Think of the birds . . .

2010-04-24T09:40:00.001+05:30

The banana tree in our apartment campus is in bloom. And baby fruits have begun to emerge.

We looked at it for a long time yesterday morning - these are rare sights for those who live in a concrete jungle.

The tree needed attention - it has begun to tilt probably due to the weight of the blossom of flowers, and so this Sunday we will use coir ropes, create a support and ensure that the tree remains upright and the fruits grow well.

There is another job to do this Sunday.

Put up a water pan on our trees - water for the birds.

Besant Nagar resident Kamla Ravikumar’s experience which she shared with an e-group triggered the thought.

Kamla seems to have a thought for the birds at summertime. In our concrete neighbourhood, we must realise that there are hardly any water sources where birds can enjoy a bath and quench their thirst.

There used to be a time when the public water taps were such sources.

Taps or water pumps where people who did not have water supplied to their homes joined the queue.

The flowing or stagnant water at these pumps served our birdies well.

A few crows and the odd sparrow, the only form of birdlife that the concrete jungle accommodates.

Kamla has been keeping mud pans and pots on the open balcony and on the terrace and filling them up with water.

She has had to refill them often - an indication of the demand for water at this time of the year.

You can also hang or fix these pots and pans on the branches of trees. Even on the trees that line your campus walls.

If you wish to be generous, you can provide grains in another pan.

These are little things we can do for our winged friends. And if you have children around, get them involved.

Activist readers

2010-04-17T10:40:00.000+05:30

Do you follow-up on reports you publish?
This is a question readers ask me on e-mail or in person.
Is there some impact that words and pictures make?
On officials, on people, on the community.
There is some impact. But there is no magic.

If a newspaper could catalyse huge changes then it would be a fantastic achievement.
But you and I can make bigger changes if we could work together.
We have a role to play; so do you.

A few people think that by dashing off e-mails to the newspapers or writing a string of letters, some kind of magic will happen.
It will not.

In Mumbai, an NGO is executing a simple exercise as far civic issues go.

It invites people to use their cam-cellphones or their digital cameras to shoot pictures of serious civic problems and post them on a Web space.

Officials of state agencies are asked to take a look every now and then - for they can decide if the problem is real and serious and how they are going to deal with it.

Perhaps it also records the civic office’s response to such issues and makes apparent in what is also a public space.

Now, if a newspaper like ours reports an issue it is difficult for a small team to keep a tab on it all the time. But people who live in the area, people associated with the issue or civic conscious people can certainly keep an eye on it and update us.

A tech-savvy group certainly can tap into technology to create spaces that help keep a tab on pot-holed roads and garbage piles if that is what worries your colony.

Another volunteer group can list community complaints and ask the correspondent to update them every now and then - online.

I am sure there are many other ways in which we can followup on issues and ensure our actions create an impact.
I would like to hear from you.

Plan to redesign T. Nagar

2010-04-10T08:12:00.001+05:30

This is a vision statement.

It runs - To develop T. Nagar into a sustainable world-class shopping destination which will function harmoniously with the residential, cultural and environmental characteristics of T. Nagar.

Our City Fathers are turning their attention to T. Nagar. They want to re-develop, revitalize, re-construct, re-engineer, renovate, re-visit, re-store, resurrect, restructure and revive what is probably Chennai’s hottest neighbourhood.

Early, this week, they organised the first public consultation on this project.

Holding such consultations is a fairly simple task for the state - you pick up a list of what you believe are the stakeholders: in this case they are residents, shop owners, hawkers and local policemen, cull from a list of city civic activists, invite the city media and key officials and roll the ball.

I did not have an invitation but decided to gate-crash. Nobody objected. As long as you have your two-bit to contribute at the mike, any organiser is happy with your presence.

There is drama at such consultations. Some speakers can spit fire and brimstone, some use the occasion to settle old scores and some love to hang on to the mike.

Anyway, guests get their share of a free run of views, suggestions and opinions and then the consultants take over.

Consultants always have some grand ideas.

In an age where Photoshop is child’s play, a consultant can clip pictures of a Korean subway shopping mall and paste them on the Mambalam railway station or copy scenes from a community park in Brussels and enliven the atmosphere that exists at Paanagal Park!

I am really not sure how ‘public’ these public consultations are or what purpose they really serve.

Public consultations are a must and should be open and democratic exercises. And they should respect much of what people have to offer.

I did not have much to offer at the T. Nagar consultation for I was there to observe what went on at such public fora on issues that affect our city.

But I did make a few suggestions.

To print simple, colourful brochures outlining the vision, plans and ideas for T. Nagar and circulate them at all the shops and apartments in this neighbourhood.

To feature the salient features and designs on display boards and erect them at public squares in this district

To launch a web site exclusively on this project and encourage lots of interaction and communication between stakeholders, the public and the state and their designates.

I think when such huge and critical issues concerning us all are floated the first thing to do is to be transparent and encourage lots of debate, discussion and participation.

Documenting the city in films

2010-04-03T08:10:00.004+05:30

What were the most commonly used landmarks in Thamizh films of the 60s and 70s when the film maker wanted to establish a link with Madras?
Central Railway Station and the LIC building on Mount Road.
But there was yet another city landmark that was a favourite of our film makers.
Marina Beach.
I remember the remarkable film director Sridhar recalling his tryst with the Marina. He not only got his flashes of inspiration while strolling on the lawns of the beach or sitting there for a while, but he also shot some of his popular song sequences here.
If you are a keen film buff you may have noticed how these film makers shifted their locations as the city began to get crowded.
Besant Nagar was a new favourite. It still is. But in the 70s, the Elliots Beach and more importantly, the avenues leading from the beachfront provided quiet shooting locations for the crew.
Popular cinema also records the life and times of a city, a city quarter, a neighbourhood and of its people.
It is a social document.
So when ‘Angadi Theru’ released last week and the previews had a lot to talk about this film which is based on life on Ranganathan Street in T. Nagar, I was keen to watch this film.
Everybody who loves shopping in this city knows about Pondy Bazaar and Ranganathan Street and here was director Vasantha Balan, who had impressed with his previous film ‘Veyil’ handling a subject that may not be box office material.
‘Angadi Theru’ is a good film and a brave effort.
It documents the life of one of Chennai’s busiest shopping zones - its businesses, the owners of these ventures, the people who work there and the people on the fringe.
It documents a slice of Chennai’s life.
There is another film that should also interest us. ‘Madrasapatnam’ has attempted to set a story in this city of the early 2oth century.
If you get to watch any of these films, share your comments, particularly on the ways in which a city gets to be part of the film.

Making docu films on Chennai

2010-03-27T13:59:00.001+05:30

They call themselves Vanniyakula Christians. A small community which grew in the groves of San Thome, close to Foreshore Estate.

Their forefathers may have headed to Madras from places like Pondicherry and the Madurai region.

One is not sure if they were Christian converts even before the migration took place or if they became Christians after they grew roots in a place which is still rich in the saint Thomas tradition.

Being a close-knit community, they held strongly and proudly to their customs and beliefs and when they had to assert themselves they even challenged the institutional Church of this land.

One lasting legacy has been the celebration of the feast of a saint that is dear to them. Saint Lazarus. A saint who is believed to be the patron of lepers and the sick.

How this saint became a patron of the Vanniyakula Christians, who are commonly referred to as Naickers, is diffused in legends and oral traditions.

Was it because the San Thome grove once used to be the refuge of sick people who had no home of their own and sought refuge in a saint and in the church that the Jesuit missionaries established here?

Or was the saint a favourite patron long before people migrated and he remained in their hearts after they made a new home in Madras?

I have heard stories of the celebration of this feast the past years. And when friend F. J. Vincent, a senior San Thomite, former Bedean and church activist shared with me many stories of the past and of the community he too is part of, we decided to make a docu-film on this feast that is unique in local church history.

We hope to screen this film next weekend at an event that is being organised for all those who wish to produce docu-films on our city.

Films of this nature are few. A shame for a city that has a fascinating history, people and character.

With more and more young and creative people looking at avenues that challenge them, this is the time to get media students and professionals to spare time to make docu-films on our city.

If you are keen, then drop by at Alliance Francaise on April 3, 3 p.m. Three films will be screened and there will be a dialogue on this movement. To correspond use madrasday@yahoo.com

Spaces are ours!

2010-03-20T12:35:00.001+05:30

I spent the past week in Chidambaram, at the Natyanjali Dance Festival that is held every year on the occasion of Mahasivaratri at the magnificent temple dedicated to Lord Nataraja.

My team at KutcheriBuzz web casts some of the recitals on all five days of the Fest while I provide the reportage.

While the stage in the eastern prakaram of the temple provides the space for dancers from all over the country and abroad to offer their ‘anjali’ the mornings often end up with animated conversations at the kalyana mantap where artistes and their guests are served breakfast, lunch and dinner.

On one morning, we had a conversation with scholar-teacher Dr. B. M. Sundaram and the livewire secretary of the Natyanjali Trust, A. Sambandam who is also an advocate.

We talked about the nadaswaram tradition in temple spaces and Sundaram, who has researched, documented and written on this artiste community said that Chidambaram is possibly the only temple where this tradition continues in its best form. And it can be witnessed at its best during the Navaratri and Arudra celebrations when the artistes perform as the procession winds its way through the mada veedhis from and to the temple shrine- an all-night affair.

Spaces and traditions are closely intertwined.

The nadaswaram conversation in Chidambaram brings me to the condition of spaces in our neighbourhood.

Spaces for art and for recreation, spaces for conversation and for the environment.

Last week, the community in CIT Colony in the Mylapore neighbourhood enjoyed the civic success they had achieved. They worked hard with the city’s civic body to convert a disused play area into a neighbourhood park.

Now, residents here can go for their daily walks, let their children indulge in fun games and sit around and chat as the sun goes down.

This space is now their own.

Importantly, they seem to be aware that unless they take charge of the space and maintain it, it may slide into a condition that the playground was in until recently.

The city’s civic body undertakes many development works. Though some of them are fancy and isolated which end up as wasted money, the ones that do serve a neighbourhood must be managed by its residents.

Story sessions, a walkers club, monthly music concerts, yoga classes . . . organised, hosted and managed by local groups will keep these places alive.

Spaces need our sustenance. So do the arts.

Share your talent!

2010-03-13T10:51:00.000+05:30

Will children enjoy a Summer Camp which teaches them a set of traditional games and promises them a week of fun?

Asha from Hyderabad thinks kids will.

She was responding to an earlier column of mine which touched on what kids could do this summer.

Asha said that since we were involved with the celebration of the annual ‘Mylapore Festival’ (it would be easy for us to tap our resources and host a camp of traditional games.

I appreciated Asha’s suggestion after I scanned her blog.

A native of Tamil Nadu, she has lived in Bangalore and is now in Hyderabad. Her blog is populated with long posts on traditional food, customs and life of the past.

She hopes that this document may come in handy for her children when they grow up if they decide to take the best out of the old!

Two others responded to my other idea - of a camp by the seaside. One, a trekking enthusiast says he will help organise a long walk on the waterfront and into the scrub jungle.

I particularly appreciated the idea of the ‘Trekking Polama’ concept that the Chennai Trekking Club hosted to mark its anniversary where its members used the occasion to demonstrate to people how to plan and prepare for treks and how a tent is set up and stuff like that.

Another young man has been enthusiastic to demonstrate the art of angling.

When was the last time you really held a large fish or a crab in your hands?

I am sure kids would love the angling experience even if they are not fish-eaters. I am doubly sure that my young friends in the kuppams would be thrilled to demonstrate how to catch crabs in the backwaters!

I must say that most of our Summer Camps for Kids are boring, dull and unimaginative. The fun element is missing in most cases and many host them to spin some extra money.

And we still have parents who send their kids for ‘special classes’ during summer hols

This may well be the time when our talented adults can get imaginative.

In our neighbourhoods, there are people who love gardening or painting, animators and biologists, designers and Frisbee players. You could spare a few hours and offer to share your skills with our kids.

In return you may learn a bit from them and this experience.

We are doing our bit. A Journalism Camp. Info at www.mtjclass.blogspot.com

Tribute to a committed citizen

2010-03-06T14:19:00.000+05:30

Did you notice that funerals of our time are like flowers that drop off the ‘thoongamoongee maram’?

Our neighbour dies, condolences are passed on quietly, the mourning is subdued and the funeral is over quietly and life moves on.

In an increasingly cocooned and frenetic world we are like flowers on an avenue tree.

At our newspapers, we make an effort to look at these flowers when the day is done and they have gone to sleep.

I woke up this morning to the news of the passing away of a man I knew better as a neighbour who would chat a bit in our colony.

The previous night, an autorickshaw had dropped me off at the street corner and I had hurried home, keen to watch the second half of the India-Spain World Cup hockey match, a make-or-break tie for India.

I have this habit of glancing at the two streets that cross the colony - perhaps this habit has grown out of a journo’s training. You always take a second look at things.

The sign of a death was simply not around though my neighbour lived on the other side of a street junction.

The morning newspaper announced his death. And I said a prayer.

P. V. Srinivasan was a man I liked. Because he kept a tab on the neighbourhood and when the ‘Adyar Times’ rolled out 17 years ago, was one of those regular correspondents.

A retired scientist at the Central Institute of Leather Research (CLRI), one of those national institutes that dot the Guindy region, Srinivasan often wrote letters on the positive uses of leather and leather footwear.

A few lines on how this material best suits us in our torrid climatic conditions would appear dull stuff but to us, it was a letter worth publishing. It was useful information that came from a professional who wanted to share a bit of useful knowledge.

Srinivasan was also a civic conscious citizen. He kept an eye on Sastri Nagar, making a note of the problems as he went about his morning walks and on errands later in the day. Dead streetlights, need for speed breakers, suggestions for maps of colonies, polluted water . . . .

Back home, he would put them down on an inland letter and post it to us and to other newspapers.

He called a spade a space and if things were set right by the state agencies, he also had a warm word of appreciation for them.

State agency staffers have told me that they respected Srinivasan’s observations because he neither blew up a problem nor complained needlessly.

He was the neighbourhood’s watchdog, a committed citizen.

We need dozens and hundreds of Srinivasans for our neighbourhoods if we are to enjoy a free, well-facilitated and peaceful life.

We need people who report the hiccups that plague our colonies, those who follow-up on projects that the state provides us, trigger responses when other people violate laws or flout their power and engage with elected representatives and officials.

Postcards and inland letters, the Internet and a responsible media can make a difference.
Srinivasan did.
So can you.

Plans for kids this summer

2010-02-27T21:53:00.000+05:30

Children, lend me your eyes and your ideas too.

Because I am in the planning mode ahead of your summer holidays and have been wondering how we can link up with you this May-June.

A few ideas began to set off last Sunday when I took a group on a Walk inside the Fort.

In that group of 32 were three children, all residents of the K K Nagar-Virugambakkam neighbourhood.

One, a boy with a notebook tightly held seemed to know Indian history well and filled in with recaps as we hopped from Clive’s House to the western ramparts and to the King’s Barracks, now crumbling with the Army’s stores.

When we wound up outside the Fort Museum that morning, the threesome said they thoroughly enjoyed the walk.

How did you come?” I asked anxiously as the group dispersed.

“Dad brought us . . he is in the parking lot.”

“And don’t you want to take him to the museum?”

‘No, he doesn’t like this but he will wait for us”.

Here was a Dad who may not have had a special interest in cutlery, Cornwallis and cannon balls but let the kids enjoy what they wished to.

I’d like to know if we could organize a few special Heritage Walks only for senior children this summer?

The Fort must be one. What about other places that you may want to explore?

Mount Road or My Ladye’s Gardens or the Guindy National Park?

Your ideas will help us plan just for you.

I am also planning our annual Journalism and Writing Camp. Perhaps this year we will hold it for 10/12 days in late April so you can enjoy the whole of May on a holiday.

We have two classroom sessions every day and we also invite young journalists to talk to the participants. We ask the kids to contribute to a blog and if the reports are good, we use them in our weeklies.

What else can we provide young writers-to-be?

Maybe one trip that takes you to a news hotspot?

Or a trip to the High Court or a printing press?

Give us your ideas to make this Camp great for those who sign up.

Also on my mind is an overnight camp in a fishing village and lakeside space where you spend time in the countryside and also learn alongside kids of the villages - how people fish, how to understand sea life, how a cattamaran works. . you get to climb up a crumbling fort and watch the stars at night.

I look forward to your mails at my blog.

For Walks go to www.madraswalks.com

For the blog on our annual Journalism Camps, go to - www.mtjclass.blogspot.com

For the seaside camp, put your message in a bottle!

Madras Walks

2010-02-20T20:00:00.000+05:30

Was Madras born out of one man's fancy for a woman in the Portuguese countryside?

I am asked this question sometimes by people who join me on the heritage walk of the Fort.

Obviously, they have read a little more than the core history of this fantastic place that led to the creation of Madras.

The story goes that one of the prospecting Englishmen of the Company who sailed down the Coromandel chose this piece of sandy strip of desolate land so that he could be closer to his lady love.

There isn't much to this story but there is more to the story of a dead body in the Elambore River which the Englishmen first let the locals handle by themselves but later intervened and introduced some laws for the land.

There are dozens of stories one can share on a Walk around the Fort. But they could distract from the variety that visitors can enjoy in this city within a city.

The moat, the underground chambers, the ramparts, the flagmast, the buildings and barracks, the church and memorial stones, Admiralty House and bungalows on 'Snobbery' Street and the Museum . . .

These heritage walks are conducted by people who are passionate about some aspect of the city. Its community, its history, its temples, Nature, the arts. . . .

But because the people who conduct them do so when their bread-and-butter assignments provide a break or when passion overtakes them, Heritage Walks are few and far between.

However, of late we have found that the interest in such walks is growing and so we floated Madras Heritage Walks with a web site ( URL - www.madraswalks.com) which would be an umbrella for info on such walks.

We hope to present at least 3 walks every month. Most will be the tried and tested packages but there will also be some nice surprises.

Some will be free, some paid ones but all of them, we hope will be enjoyable experiences.

Pradeep Chakravarthy will run the second edition of his hugely successful tour of an ancient Velachery Temple and its environs in late March while D. Hemachandra Rao is waiting for the tides to raise the level of the water in the Buckingham Canal to organise a slow boat Heritage Tour from a point off the East Coast Road to recapture the experience that your grandparents had when they went on a picnic to Mahabalipuram.

We also invite people who are experts in an area's history to design a Walk and offer it to the city and tourists. The markets of Royapettah, the churches of Broadway, the landmarks of Royapuram. You are not called to become a tourist guide. Rather, be a story-teller on a hour-long walk and do this when you are free.

The e-mail to use - madraswalks@gmail.com

Document your life!

2010-02-13T08:52:00.000+05:30

When you are in the right place at the right time, a lot can happen.
C. P. Venkataraman was one such man who was in the middle.
Working in the Telegraph department may appear to be an unexciting job.
It was not.
Ask any telegraphist of the old days and a nudge will produce a string of 'believe-it-or-not stories'.
Venkataraman found himself in some exciting spots that his job took him to in the Madras of the 30s and 40s.
Cricket matches, for example.
He was in charge of setting up and running the communications for this sporting event and when the Aussies came visiting they found in Venkataraman a reliable man who ensured they could could talk to their wives and families uninterrupted and assure them back home that Madras was not overrun by snakes and elephants.
In return, the Aussies posed for keepsake pictures that the proud Telegraph person showed off to his colleagues.
There was also a war time assignment when he had to co-ordinate the job of setting off the war raid warning sirens in this city.
He was the sort of man who made friends easily and when he grew roots in the Mylapore area he came to know the biggest and brightest lawyers of the land like Sriman Srinivasa Iyengar. (His family says that Venkataraman pushed the agenda to have a road in the area named after this towering personality).
At Pachaiyappa's, he had rubbed shoulders with C. N. Annadurai who went on to become the leader of the DMK and a state chief minister.
Recently, his family celebrated C. P. Venkataraman's centenary, making a handsome donation to city based voluntary bodies who are doing immense service to less fortunate people.
Dr C. V. Geetha, Venkataraman's daughter had spoken to me when she was making preparations for this milestone.
I took that opportunity to make a suggestion. A suggestion I made after I heard some of the anecdotes that made Venkataraman who he was.
Create a PowerPoint or a slide show on the person and present it to the family, relatives, guests and well wishers at the centenary event.
Dr. Geetha called me soon after the event, keen to share some pictures of the celebration. And she told me that she had worked on my idea and the presentation was appreciated.
I am hoping this adds to the social history record that some of us are building today.
Celebrations, compilations, books and records are not meant only to be on the famed and the successful.
They have to be on people who have led interesting lives.
There should be one or two people in your family tree who have made a mark or contributed immensely.
A engineer who designed the bridges of our city. A doctor who set up a free clinic and ran it for 50 years. A teacher who changed the face of a school.
Please compile pictures and records and jot down information on them.
Circulate them amongst your family and relatives.
Create social records.

Let's bomb this bridge

2010-02-06T11:57:00.000+05:30

If you are on the verge of launching yourself as a local entrepreneur, there are a couple of nice businesses coming your way.

Much, if not all has to do with civic services.

A little birdie at the city father’s office has let me in on this information and in the true spirit of a community communication I felt I should make it public.

We have now moved to the age of the RTI (Right to Information).

I will not reveal the source but have given you the hint because I don’t want the poor engineers and officers at the civic body’s local office to be thrown into the Buckingham Canal by their superiors (the Cooum is best for those contemplating suicide, murder, foul play and cinematic acts).

Lets get to the business.

The birdie says that the days of the small jobs is over.

That is why you don’t find people clearing the wild bushes on our pavements, replacing broken tiles on sidewalks, repairing collapsed drains and mending broken rails on bridges.

That is why it does not help if you keep cribbing about corroded playthings and leaking manholes.

That is why they ask you to now e-mail these plaints if you wish to take up an issue: these go down a depthless pit in the Web that has lots of space. You will get polite acknowledgments. A smiley zips at the press of a key.

That is why all those tenders you see in your newspapers are big. Big jobs.

A few crores for the expansion of a bridge (and a few lakhs for the demolition of the original built in the days of the Brits). A few crores to relay the pavement on the beach. A few crores to demolish a shopping complex and build a giant one in its place. A few lakhs to renovate an entire park.

Now, these projects are for the Big Boys.

But there may be space for the Small Men too.

There were some trials.

They gave a job to some one to maintain our street lamps.

They awarded a contract to another to run the loos.

Now they may want to hand over the work of clearing wild bushes, cleaning drains of waste, filling potholes and watering the traffic islands.

This civic body isn’t interested. Its workforce is spent and tired. Its officers have their cellphones switched off. Our councillors . . . god bless them.

I have a one-time job to offer - am looking for a skilled pilot who can bomb only the Adyar Bridge. Not the old, the other.

Those who suffer its pain day in and day out will gladly pay for this job. There is no need for a tender - the bridge will gladly slip into the Adyar.

Sarathy's life

2010-01-30T10:38:00.000+05:30

Sarathy is in class six. He studies at a high school run by nuns off the East Coast Road and lives on the fringe of a small patch of paddy fields his father owns, handed down the generations.
One of three children, Sarathy likes to go to school but when it comes to homework and serious study he does not sweat over it.
He would rather explore the world outside.
We met Sarathy during a recent visit of this area, once hit by the tsunami. He was sitting on the edge of the Buckingham Canal and watching the waters closely.
He should have been in school that Wednesday but he had told his class teacher that he would like to rest - since he was recovering from a stomach ailment.
Instead of going home he had set up locally-made traps in the quiet waters of the Canal and hoped to net a dozen crabs before the sun went down that day. They would make a great curry for dinner.
Other boys, who rarely went to school spent more time netting prawns in the inland waterway and selling them to the well-heeled who sped to Pondicherry in their Xylos.
Sarathy was glad to have our company. He left his post on the Canal, took us around the neighbourhood, told us about the histories of the church and the temple, picked up dried snake skins to tell us about the reptiles that haunted this area and introduced us to the kuppam, the fishermen and the fish.
As we sat on the catamaran and enjoyed the sea and the scenery he told us about the tides of this season and grabbed a few baby crabs and displayed them as if in a zoology lab.
His immense knowledge and experience of the place, his environment and his community impressed us.
What sort of education would be best for these Sarathys? How could one build on the immense knowledge and the skills they possess?
His class seven friend wants to become a civil engineer. Sarathy's elder brother wants to go to a polytechnic. But Sarathy is still to make up his mind.
As a sprawling SEZ and residential city springs up on the other side of this highway, the kuppam people hope to see a fund of jobs - maids, drivers, electricians, watchmen.
The Sarathys though would impress in fisheries, ecology, environment.
Who will make the connect?