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 Will roads affect rivers? MADRAS The Dadhaof Mylapore-Triplicane AVM shows the way 75 - & still going strong Vol. XVII No. 24 MUSINGS April 1-15, 2008 CorporationIs VPH to allocates get a new more for capital A green landmark projects Calendar confusion (By A Special Correspondent) The month that just went by? It was March, right? he Chennai Corporations Rs.1000 each. Free bus passes Looks-like-cool-days-are-done- TBudget for 2008-09 has al- for disabled children and their its-getting-nice-and-warm- located Rs.374.5 crore for capi- escorts are planned to give a fil- March? tal works (roads, bridges, storm- lip to school attendance. In ad- Then, can someone explain the rain? water drains). This is Rs.86.5 dition, street children will be ac- Thats right rain, clouds, light- crore more than the previous commodated in night shelters ning everything you expect years allocation. Civic ameni- and trained at bridge schools year-end or thereabouts. ties such as the Mint flyover, the before joining the mainstream Plants and crops looked up at Ganesapuram subway and the institutions. Rewards would the sky, wondering whats flyover-cum-underpass on Lat- also be given to the headmaster/ going on. tice Bridge Road figure in the headmistress of Corporation Fauna scratched its collective new budget. A new auditorium schools securing the first three head, equally puzzled. for North Chennai, similar to places in the Tenth and Plus And someone, somewhere, in the Pitti Thyagaraya Chetty Hall Two board exams (three prizes charge of such things, looked in T. Nagar, is to be constructed. - Rs. 5,000, Rs. 3,000 and up ancient tomes, flipping Multi-level car parks are to come Rs. 2,000), Rs. 500 to teachers timeless pages, muttering, up on Wallace Garden Road in of subjects in which the stu- Lets see now, that part of the world March no, no in- Nungambakkam and Broadway. dents scored centum, Rs. 1,000 structions here about organi- For the first time, neighbour- to headmaster/headmistress of sing rain. hoods will be recognised for seg- Corporation schools which se- This wasnt just the odd, playful regating wastes and a cash prize cured 90 per cent pass percent- shower. of Rs. 5,000 is promised for the age, and Rs. 500 to teachers of No, this was the real thing. two neighbourhood associa- subjects in which students se- People planned events happily, tions with the best record in this cured above 95 per cent. A telling one another that bar- aspect. The two best conser- huge host of computer equip- ring sudden political upheav- vancy inspectors will receive ment is expected to be distrib- als or celebrity brouhaha Rs.10,000 each. The Corpora- uted to several Corporation which always have the worst tion hopes that these motiva- schools. possible effect on daily life The Corporation promises to and traffic this should go tional schemes will inspire the through smoothly. people to manage waste better. take steps to minimise paper And then, it happened. The mosquito menace by work in house construction. It One fat wet drop that landed which the city is plagued is has recommended to the square on the ground before planned to be handled by the Chennai Metropolitan Deve- them. procurement of hand-held fog- lopment Authority to approve They gazed at it, and then ging equipment, vehicle- plans for house construction in looked up at the sky. mounted larvicide sprayers and plots as small as 500 sq ft in Youve got to be kidding, they catamarans for spraying larvi- (Continued on page 4) intoned gloomily. cides on waterways. The citizens are stressed out. Buoyed by increasing rev- l Nature enthusiasts can now How do you prepare for the see a rare spectacle in the gar- unexpected or rather, the- enues, the Corporation has looked at education, health and dens of the YWCA on shouldnt-be-happening-at- Poonammallee High Road. A alls? welfare schemes in particular in grand talipot palm is in its Trying out that new gossamer-y its plans for the coming year. fruiting stage! Blooming is a outfit thinking summers A budget of Rs. 10 crore is rare phenomenon, a once-in- here? proposed for education. School- a-lifetime event for this palm. Fine, but dont assume the toppers from the citys Corpora- This particular tree at the weather will be. tion schools will be given com- YWCA is of the species Nature seems to be flexing puters as prizes. Corporation Corypha macropoda, one of muscles more and more these school students who score 1000 about eight species of the ge- days. nus Corypha, and bears fruit marks and above in the Higher only once during its lifespan. Inconvenient truths piling up? Secondary and 400 and above (Also see page 6) Ranjitha Ashok in the SSLC will be given CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS April 1-15, 2008 Will proposed Weddings roads – Vadapalani style he Man from Madras lope in the hands of the bride, then we discovered the reason affect Citys T Musings had, if regular even while shaking hands with for the drivers refusal to coop- readers of his will recollect, the groom. And then someone erate. There was no ambu- foresworn from going to any shoved MMM aside as a senior lance, it was a vehicle bearing a wedding conducted in Vada- relative had arrived and so the party flag and from the registra- palani. But last week, circum- bridal pair had to prostrate be- tion number it appeared to be rivers? stances were different. For one, fore their elder in the narrow from the mofussil. This vehicle this wedding was on a Sunday space that MMM occupied. had been fitted with an ambu- (By A Special Correspondent) and in the morning. Secondly, Even as MMM fell on several lance siren and from the grins it was held at the Vadapalani assorted relatives and earned of those inside, it appeared that wo recent announcements spell doom to the Cooum, or Temple, a shrine MMM had their curses, the bride and they were most amused at the Tby the Government have whatever is left of it. It is also long desired to visit. So off groom fell at the feet of an aged way they had fooled all of us. put question marks on the fu- vital that drainage for the areas went MMM, his heart ready to uncle and received his bless- The bus driver, being at an el- ture of the citys waterways and abutting the Cooum is planned, face the fate. ings. Such is life for you. evation, had seen that this was whatever little natural life that as otherwise most of the sewers Nearing the shrine, the His duty done, his toe no ambulance and had conse- is left on their banks. The first is and stormwater drains empty populace increased quite a bit stubbed and his body feeling a quently refused to cooperate. the 15 km elevated roadway into it. The proposed road may and the proceedings were being good deal battered, MMM stag- But up came a policeman who directed by a disembodied gered away. It was only at the ensured that sufficient space that is proposed from the Port simply cut off all access or, even voice, which was, alas, not that entrance that MMM remem- was created for the politico-am- to Maduravoyal. This was ini- worse, alter alignments as was of God, but of a stentorian po- bered that he had forgotten to bulance to race ahead, wailing tially planned along the banks the case with the MRTS which licewoman safely ensconced in pray at the sanctum. Anyway, siren and all. The traffic closed of the River Cooum, but now has resulted in the frequent a booth issuing her benedic- it was too crowded and the in once again and the gridlock has been shifted so that it comes flooding of parts of Mylapore. It tions through a public address Maker probably had not had continued. The policeman up on the central portion of is significant that the Chennai system. Before long, MMM was time to receive MMM. At the went back to giving his imita- Poonamallee High Road be- Metropolitan Water Supply and identified for blessings, in the gopuram, MMM stood for a few tion of a statue put up in his tween Maduravoyal and Sewerage Board is not part of shape of a tersely worded an- minutes to catch his breath, honour by his admirers. Koyambedu. What is significant the proposed venture. nouncement that if the balding and bespectacled saar in MM on email is that the government press re- In a related matter, the white shirt did not move, there SHORT lease still states that the road Finance Budget of the State, were bright chances of his be- N hief: I dont know if it was will be along the left bank of the presented on March 21, ing hauled up before the awful Csuch a good idea getting on River Cooum. announced that Rs. 2300 crore majesty of the law. So MMM SNAPPY the email after all. The Man The project has been pro- has been allotted to building a moved and soon found himself from Madras Musings knows posed to ease the access to the 120 km circular, high-speed being sucked into the mael- you are all for technology, but Port and is jointly planned by transportation corridor all along strom at the entrance of the only to be informed by the voice in the absence of an email ID, the Chennai Port Trust and the the river banks of the city.