428 Vol XVII MM 23 3 Colour.Pmd
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Registered with the Reg. No. TN/PMG (CCR) /814/06-08 Registrar of Newspapers Licence to post without prepayment for India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. WPP 506/06-08 Rs. 5 per copy (Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-) WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI INSIDE Short N Snappy National Trusts team up MADRAS Dr. Kesaris reminiscences The weavers agony The Auroville dream Vol. XVII No. 23 MUSINGS March 16-31, 2008 WhenIs VPH will to IT getExpressway a new keep its promises? Would they fine us for not gener- ating waste, too? (By A Special Correspondent) The ides of April he Highways Secretary, A drive down the corridor News: Immediate fines for lit- TGovernment of Tamil shows that almost all is well on tering, garbage dumping (in- Nadu, has in a recent meeting the stretch from Madhya cluding unsystematic disposal) from April 1, 2008. announced that the work on Kailash to Tidel Park. But from You: Great. Watch out, all you the high profile IT Expressway Kandanchavadi and Perungudi paan-spitting, litter-bugging (now renamed Rajiv Gandhi onwards, it is clear that work Salai) will be completed by types, because ... (Continued on page 7) Voice-from-the-Crowd: Hoy! March 31st. He has also stated The Expressway to be completed by March 31, 2008! You (slightly taken aback): Yes? that the main carriageway of the VFTC: Are you being funny first phase from Madhya Kailash about something as serious as to Siruseri, spanning 20.1 km, garbage disposal? and the ECR Link Road, con- You: Er...no... VFTC: And waste segregation? necting Sholinganallur and You (nervously): Of course not. Akkari (2.1 km), would be Im registering support, in my ready by March. The service own, possibly totty-headed roads are expected to be com- way, for the cause and... pleted by August. It has been VFTC: Why specifically men- decided to build link bridges tion paan-spitting? Thats from the MRTS stations that sheer social bias. And why are are on the same route. The toll you hopping about? plaza will be complete by April You: Not hopping. Reeling. and will be operational from With shock. All I meant was... VFTC: You think paan-spitting July. The reality on ground, and garbage-dumping are con- however, appears to indicate fined only to some social cat- that it is doubtful if any of this egories? will be completed to the satis- You (mopping your forehead): faction of road-users. No, no, paan-spitting, garbage- throwing, ignoring recycling and bio-degradable (or non) as- pects... offenders are every- Ours is worlds eighth densest metro where, regardless of sex, in- come, education, appearance, hair-type, taste in music... he US-based Forbes maga- (By A Staff Reporter) Most Indian cities are densely whatever. Tzine has, in its recent sur- the top ten densest metros of contamination of ground and populated and have poor waste VFTC(raising voice): Prejudice- vey, listed Chennai among the the world has three Indian cit- water. There are efforts being removal and sewage systems. ist. Inappropriate-funny-sider. densest cities of the world. The These issues, combined with in- Theres a menacing rush to- ies Mumbai, Kolkata and made at containment. th wards you. city ranks 8 in the list. Delhi is Chennai. While Forbes magazines creasing air pollution, contrib- Choosing to be even feebly in 13th position and Bangalore Citizens of Chennai may penchant for listing just about ute to their relatively low rat- funny for a career sometimes is 19th. The magazine has com- take solace in the fact that the anything (10 hardest drinking ings, according to the study. It requires you to be fleet of foot. mented that Living in a dense list of the top 25 dirtiest cities of cities of the world, is an ex- highlighted the fact that there You take off for the open, dis- place affects the quality of liv- the world does not include the ample) may have resulted in the is a very real risk of transmission playing impressive speed. ing, unless you have loads of metro, while it does have dirty statistics going unno- of diseases in these cities owing But, dutiful to the last, you yell money and the place is Mumbai (7th) and Delhi (24th). ticed, last years Worldwide to the poor ratings. out: April 1st... remember, gentrified like Tokyo and New But while Chennai appears to Quality of Living Survey by Given this scenario, the April 1st. You have till then to York. Dense is, however, a rela- have escaped, neighbouring Mercer Human Resource Con- Central Government has come study and categorise your gar- bage. tive term. A Mumbai native vis- Ranipet has not. It comes in for sulting showed Indian cities in up with the idea of satellite You almost chuck your speech iting New York is bound to feel special mention and it is stated a very poor light as well. That townships for 35 cities in the notes, then hastily stuff them like a New Yorker vacationing that Ranipets pollution can af- study stated that Indian cities country. For all cities having into your bag. on a Wyoming dude ranch. fect up to 3 million people, as it score relatively poorly on health populations exceeding a million Every little gesture counts, for a The magazine has blamed fast- is upstream from populous and sanitation counts, with and naturally Chennai is one responsibly clean environ- track economic growth for the Chennai. Its tannery waste scores ranging from 52.8 for the Ministry for Urban Deve- ment. density of population in metros. amounted to 1,500,000 tons a Chennai (position 177) to 38.2 lopment is finalising a satellite Ranjitha Ashok It is significant that the list of year of toxic material. There is for Mumbai (position 209). (Continued on page 7) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS March 16-31, 2008 Birthday bashes the Causing congestion Ramayana and Mahabharata. I became a rather unlikely mem- he State Government had Chennai way ber of her family and was never Tsome time ago announced made to feel anything different. ecently, both our leading seemed to think that this was tumbled out, leaving the pongal that during the last 18 months As unusual and enlightened Rpolitical parties celebrated an indication of their leader to hold fort even as the sand- ten new industrial projects, in- in his time as Dr. Kesari was, so, the birthdays of their leaders. having become an interna- wich looked on in grim satisfac- volving an investment of too, was his daughter Sarada And what events they proved tional authority. Two toughs tion. Even this was not spared. Rs.15,000 crore, had been Devi. The family is blessed to to be. Almost took The Man who conversed even as they re- By the simple expedient of not finalised in Tamil Nadu. The share their genes. I am very from Madras Musings to the lieved themselves against providing a knife, the butter days of the Maharajahs and MMMs compound wall was not usable. Cleverly, the government has also just an- proud of Vasantha eduthis nounced finalisation of five Maharanis of yore. MMM had claimed that even Glindon knife was provided to some and skills in translating Dr. Kesaris no choice. He was literally (wonder which one, Bill or not others, so that there would more new mega projects involv- memoirs. They are a gem. ing Rs.16,000 crore. These caught in the thick of the fes- Hill?) took the leaders advice. be no mutiny by the passengers fifteen new projects are to be Radha Gopalakrishnan tivities. The procession moved on at en masse. MMM has been told 26/2, Arundale Beach Road For one leader, the celebra- its own sweet will and took that it is not so, but he still located around Chennai, to tions included a health camp more than three hours to com- thinks that the withholding of generate new employment op- Kalakshetra Colony Chennai 600 090 for the poor. The venue was a plete the route of a kilometre the knife is done by a computer portunities for over two lakhs of Community Hall close to or so. programme that selects at ran- people. A tram experience where MMM has his humble Across the road from where dom the passengers to be de- Government should con- eader Sethuramans letter abode. Obviously, the harmful MMM lives came up a digital prived of this implement. sider locating a few of the new Ron trams (MM, December effects of prolonged exposure banner praising the leader to In the evening journey, con- proposed projects in the hinter- 16th) reminded me of my visit to high decibels of sound did the high heavens. The person- siderable savings have been ef- not come under the purview of age was compared to several fected by ensuring that coffee land and southern districts, to to Melbourne in 2005. It was a enable development of the dif- this health camp, for loud- mythical personages and also is 99% hot water with some joy, the modern trams in speakers were installed at vari- hailed as the leader of the past, murky powder added. Then the ferent regions of the State and Melbourne. The city centre had ous places and film-songs were present and future. The scaf- 7.00 p.m. bun, which accompa- to generate employment oppor- a free tram service, a great boon played non-stop and at deafen- folding to support this ban- nies the soup, again has butter tunities in the districts also. to tourists, as it went on a rect- ing volumes all through the ner But we went into all that provided sans knife.