Chennai discussions II

[WillyWick]

Idiots!!!!!!

[nashcode]

a disgrace

[WillyWick]

Deepavali time!!!

Saree with pocket

Sri Kumaran Stores, a leading store in Chennai for garments, has announced the launch of a saree with a pocket -- the first-of-its-kind in the world -- to hold your mobile phone, keys, tissues and intimate make-up. You can carry on with your work without having to worry about the phone or the keys. It’s no longer the men’s preserve to have pockets for all their requirements.

The 'pocket saree', pure handwoven silk saree, delicately embroidered, has been specially designed for the modern, working woman. The sarees are priced at Rs 4,500 to Rs 7,000. And it is available in a range of colours.

http://www.chennaionline.com/fashion.../10smobile.asp

[MaduraiSelvam]

hai guys,
I just wanted to share an event, that made me think, if 'WE' are reposible or 'THEY' are responsible for this? who is WE and THEY, you will know when you finish reading this post.
Some Swedish researcher went to US for a conference and met some Indians there. The Indians told the Swede that they were from S. India, the developed part of the country. As the Swede had few south Indian friends, he felt comfortable to talk further more and realised that all three Indians could talk the same language. When the Swede asked about if their language was Tamil or other southern languages, they told, ' we speak Bengali and its the language of the south Indians'. When the Swede came back home and said this to my friend from Chennai, and also asked if he also spoke Bengali.
I didnt know if we need to laugh at it or blame ourself. I couldnt take this as a joke, is it we who had hyped so much that Northies get isolated.

[WillyWick]

we had grinded this issue over an over again in chennai discussions thread (part 1)

[WillyWick]

Polls over, yet memories of violence linger

CHENNAI: The results of the local body elections may come out by Thursday afternoon. But the discussion in most homes in Chennai still centres on the brazen violence that several voters witnessed rather than the chances of the parties.

While allegations of bogus voting surface in almost all elections, residents are shocked at the violations in several booths, where groups of youth were seen stamping ballot papers. Some of the perpetrators even foul-mouthed the voters and asked them to leave. For example, at the Chennai Corporation's Urdu School at Srinivasapuram in Mint, where the polling was conducted for ward No. 13, an unidentified gang ransacked the booths around 9.30 a.m. It snatched the ballot papers from the officials and threw them along the narrow lane where the school is located, in full view of the public.

While the visibly shaken polling officers and police tried to maintain that all was peaceful, a constable and a woman election officer explained to a group of journalists that a gang brandishing knives had threatened them. The State Election Commission had not ordered a re-poll for the booths in the school.

Booth capturing can take different forms, if one goes by the incidents witnessed during the two days of polling, especially the events in the first phase on Friday. At the polling stations at Kondithope, some agents themselves threatened the voters and polling officers. The polling officials were afraid to make any remark to journalists in front of the agents.

At M.P. Devadas High School at Vyasarpadi, several groups of youth turned up all through the morning to cast votes. The police did not even try to stop them. Just before noon, the agents of the Opposition parties left the booths as they took the protest to the streets.

After 11.30 a.m., another gang barged into the booths and asked all voters to leave. Then they pulled out the ballot boxes, opened them, tore up the ballots, tried to set them afire and left. A couple of policemen, who were mute witnesses to the morning's events, had left by then.

At Tiruvottiyur on Sunday, gangs barged into a booth at Agasthiyar Vidyalaya on Kanakkar Street, Ward 23, to stamp ballot papers. At a booth at Revoor Padmanabha Chetty Matriculation School in the same local body, a group forced its way in, snatched a ballot paper book from polling staff and stamped them.

These papers were, later, kept aside as invalid by the polling officers. Residents of Ward 1 (Velan Nagar) in the Valsaravakkam municipality said that after more than 1,000 votes had been cast by 1.30 p.m., a gang entered, emptied the boxes, put the ballot papers in gunny bags and replaced them with about 800 freshly stamped papers in a one-hour operation. This they did after terrorising the voters.

For the staff at MMDA Colony in Arumbakkam, voting was smooth till 10 a.m., with 200 votes cast.

But suddenly a gang wielding knives and sticks came in, seized the ballot paper books (each containing 50 papers), stamped them, and even without removing the counterfoil stuffed them in the boxes.

For one full hour, the gang held sway. The policemen on duty ran away and closed the gates. A civic official asked the polling staff to listen to the gang and "cooperate." The gang members stayed there the whole day and, going by one member of the polling staff, at least 600 of the 800 votes in that booth were bogus.

What was shocking to the polling staff was that it happened so early in the day, and the police did nothing. That it was ballot papers, and not EVMs, which made the job easy.

For the police, there were no complaints from the polling staff.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/17/stor...1715950300.htm

[Anniyan]

They speak Tamil with the right accent and have adapted well to the culture and traditions of Chennai. They influence as well as get influenced by their surroundings.

They are Chinese migrants who have made Chennai their home.

Explains Min Fumie, a homemaker, “It was in the 1950s and 1960s that my parents fled their home and came to India (due to unrest in China). It must have been very difficult for our parents those days since they had to make fresh adjustments and start everything from scratch.”

For those who are born and brought up here, things got much easier since they were exposed to the lifestyle here right from the start.

“For us, it is hardly a problem living in our adopted country. Our taste-buds, lifestyle and even mindset changed with the exposure we had from our childhood," says Stella.

"For instance, I can express myself well in Tamil, English and even Mandarin Chinese. At home, we prepare both Cantonese and Tamil food,” says Stella.

The few Chinese migrants in the city usually take up their family business. Some of the oldest restaurants, beauty parlours and dental clinics are owned by them.

For instance, Eve’s Beauty Parlour, run by Arleen Chaurasia (she married a North Indian), the second generation of Chinese migrants, was started by her parents way back in 1968.

“With my formal training in hair-dressing abroad, I could take over my family business. The other relatives I have here are my brother, a chef at Le Royal Meridian, and my uncle, the proprietor of Dynasty restaurant," says Arleen.

"I don’t know much about the other Chinese migrants here, since we have our own social circles. And as far as I know, there’s nothing like a group or association that binds us together,” says Arleen.

But when it comes to the celebrations, there is no compromise. “The Chinese New Year is one thing that we never fail to observe. It is time for family get-togethers."

"The date differs every year but it is normally at the end of January or the beginning of February. Food is the main part of the celebration. Biscuits, cakes and lots of non-vegetarian goodies are made in abundance,” says Chang, a BDS student.

For many of the Chinese here, Chennai is the only home they’ve known.

“Since many of my relatives settled in the West, I’ve visited most of the European countries, but I haven’t been to China since I don’t know anyone out there," says Arleen.

"I would like to go and see the place but I don’t know when that will happen,” confesses Arleen. The rise in the number of Chinese restaurants is another testimony to the influence of the Chinese community in the city.http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp...ennai&Topic=0&

[Fusionist]

I used to have a Tamil Chinese friend from Chennai

[WillyWick]

DMK, allies sweep civic polls in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Oct 18: Ruling DMK and its allies Congress, PMK, CPI(M) and CPI swept the civic polls in Tamil Nadu by capturing five municipal corporations in five major cities and winning majority of seats in 152 other municipalities.

The DMK-led alliance was also way ahead of their main rival AIADMK in the poll to town panchayats and panchayat union councils, reports reaching here tonight said.

The alliance captured civic bodies in Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Salem, and Tiruchirappalli.

The DMK led DPA is also set to capture over 80 first grade municipalities and 40 third grade municipalities, the reports said.

The counting of votes for Chennai Municipal Corporation will take place on October 20 as per the Madras High Court order. During the 2001 civic polls, DMK had won the mayoral posts in Chennai and Madurai, for which direct elections were held.

While the erstwhile TMC, which was in alliance with AIADMK then, had won the mayoral post of Tiruchirappalli AIADMK had bagged the mayoral posts in other corporations at that time.

AIADMK, which had put up a creditable performance by winning 61 seats in the May assembly polls, came out with a dismal performance in the civic polls. According to reports reaching the state election commission office, AIADMK could win only in 10 municipalities this time.

The DMK and its allies made deep inroads into AIADMK bastions of Coimbatore, Turicorin and Theni districts where the party had fared well during the assembly polls.

The AIADMK's traditional vote banks in the rural areas of the state seems to have gone in favour of DMK-led DPA as the alliance won in most of the panchayat union wards.

The ruling alliance won majority in all the 29 district panchayats

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/article...330186&sid=REG

[R2IChennai]

I am glad that all elections are over, Now DMK govt has to perform independent of any alliance pressure.

[vs007]

From online paper edition of TOI:

TN city in top 10 pollution list
New York: Ranipet in Tamil Nadu, where leather tanning wastes contaminate groundwater with hexavalent chro-mium, the cancercausing substance made famous by Erin Brockovich, is among the 10 most polluted places on Earth, a US environmental group has said.
The list was compiled by the New York-based Blacksmith Institute, which said the world’s pollution is sickening up to 1 b people.
Blacksmith director Richard Fuller said environmental problems cause up to 20% deaths in developing countries.
And environmental toxins in these towns put residents at risk of being poisoned, developing cancers and lung infections and having mentally retarded children, the group said.
“The worst problem is the damage it does to children’s development... and that damages the future of the countries,” Fuller said. The group researched 300 sites to come up with its list.
The sites were not ranked because health records in some developing countries weren’t available. “Norilsk in Russia is also just a horror story,” Fuller said. No US sites were listed in the top 10 as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Superfund law helped cleaned up the country, Fuller said. Agencies

[goldies]

The just concluded civic polls in Tamil Nadu have brought to the fore a not too closely guarded secret -- that there are at least five chief ministerial candidates in waiting within the ruling DMK and its allies.

The list comprises Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's two sons M.K. Stalin and M.K. Azhagiri, PMK chief S. Ramadoss' son Anbumani, Murasoli Maran's son Dayanidhi. Adding to the list of star sons is the star himself - Vijayakanth.

Post-polls, all have been thrown into the favourable limelight and harbour hopes of one day taking over the chief minister's mantle.

The DMK has won 1,550 municipal seats and its allies another 500. The seven-party alliance has captured about 200 corporation, nearly 2,500 town and 300 district panchayat seats, as well as 2,000 village posts.

Of the 155 wards in Chennai Corporation, the DMK has taken 90 and its friends the rest with only three going to the AIADMK.

The civic polls have ensured that Stalin, 52, a first time minister who was entrusted with local government, has uninterrupted 'grassroots loyalty' for the next five years. It has taken the 'heir apparent' 30 long years to get a berth in the Karunanidhi cabinet.

Karunanidhi had banished his other son Azhagiri to Madurai in the 1990s to keep him away from Chennai and the coveted seat of power. But he could be back in the reckoning -- after the civic polls and the by-election to the Madurai Central assembly seat, vacated by the death of DMK strongman P.T.R. Palanivel Rajan, the southern districts are now completely Azhagiri's.

The DMK victory in the deep south, for long considered an AIADMK bastion, is credited to Azhagiri's hard work. Azhagiri has not yet made any claims; but for how long is the question.

There are other hopefuls in the fray.

To the utter dismay of senior DMK politicians like T.R. Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, Murasoli Maran's son and union Communications and IT Minister, from being a political unknown has become a smart pointsman for the party in the short span of two years. His closeness to Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is well known.

Maran junior got thunderous applause in the civic poll campaigns when he said MDMK's Vaiko is like the Tamil actor Asokan who began as a hero, then became a villain and ended as a comedian.

This civic polls has brought another home truth to the DMK -- that its ally PMK's S. Ramadoss sees his son Anbumani Ramadoss, India's health minister, as the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

In its campaigns for civic posts, supposedly as a DMK ally, PMK youth brigade have been reportedly shouting, 'Who will be chief minister of Tamil Nadu? Anbumani Ramadoss, of course!'

Like Maran, the central posting has worked like an internship for the English-speaking but so-long unknown Anbumani.

Then there is actor Vijayakanth, who has bettered his votes in the local polls. Floating the DMDK just a few months before the May 2006 assembly elections, Vijayakanth became legislator at first shot.

In the local polls, his DMDK won 100 municipality seats, nearly 200 town seats, 16 corporation seats and about 200 panchayat seats, a noteworthy performance by any account. Vijayakanth makes no bones that he is 'the alternative' for Tamil people.

In the Madurai by-polls too, the DMDK polled about 17,500 votes and AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha knows that he, known popularly as Karuppu MGR, cut into her vote bank.

A thrilled Karunanidhi, therefore, praised Vijayakanth saying his was a 'creditable performance'.

Could one of Vijayakanth's future roles be that of chief minister? Given politics in the state, it could most certainly be.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/i...g_in_the_wings

[goldies]

5.49 lakh workers went abroad in 2005.

Kerala 22.8%
TN 21.3%
Karnataka 13.7%
Gujarat 9.1%
Andhra 8.8%
Maharastra 5.3%
Punjab 4.4%
Rajasthan 3.9%

http://thatstamil.oneindia.in/news/2006/10/26/tn.html

[goldies]

http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sit...ntry&lang=none

[goldies]

Chennai, Oct. 30 (PTI): The chasm between two ruling coalition constituents in Tamil Nadu grew wider today with the PMK charging the alliance leader DMK with "great betrayal" in the recent civic elections and announcing that its support to the government hereafter will not be unconditional.

Hot on the heels of the allegations against the DMK, which were strongly rejected by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, PMK leader S Ramadoss told a press conference here that the party's support to the government would be "issue-based".

He made clear that his party would not act in a way that would cause the fall of the DMK Government.

"We will be functioning as a responsible opposition, taking up people's cause. We will support all good measures of the government and will oppose all anti-people measures," he said.

He said "At least in the AIADMK with whom we fought two elections, except its leaders Jayalalitha and Sasikala, others are good. In the DMK, it is the other way round. Only the leaders Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and its General Secretary K Anbazhagan are good."

The PMK, which has 18 members in the 234-member Assembly, provides crucial outside support to the DMK which has 96 MLAs and runs the government with support from other allies including the Congress, CPI(M) and CPI. At the time of formation of the government, the PMK had given a letter of unconditional support to the Governor.

Ramadoss alleged that several second run DMK leaders had openly worked against the PMK in the civic elections and that the party could not contest the polls in many places alloted to it.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0610301855.htm

[WillyWick]

Suitcase party heheheheheh

[madurai veeran]

Ramadass son Anbumani is under fire at the centre for poorly handling the dengue and chikunguniya epidemic. I feel there must have been internal pressure in congress to remove anbumani from minister post. This and other events must have forced Ramadoss to pressurize DMK govnt at the state. PMK is nothing but purely dirty politics. It had won the 18 seats bcos of DMK and now its flexing its muscles with those seats.

[Anniyan]

Originally Posted by madurai veeran

PMK is nothing but purely dirty politics. It had won the 18 seats bcos of DMK and now its flexing its muscles with those seats.

PMK is famous for jumping from one side to the other, we all know that but why no one is blaming the DMK/ADMK who wants to have an alliance with PMK. If you say PMK had won 18 seats cos of DMK, then DMK wud ve won more than 60 seats cos of PMK.

[madurai veeran]

Originally Posted by Anniyan

PMK is famous for jumping from one side to the other, we all know that but why no is blaming the DMK/ADMK who wants to have alliance with PMK. If you say PMK had won 18 seats cos of DMK, then DMK wud ve won more than 60 seats cos of PMK.

Its all bcos of caste politics. North TN has a sizeable number of a particular community to which Ramadoss party PMK affiliates itself. To get those vote bank DMK r ADMK needs his help. And now they are facing the consequence. Ramadoss had waited so long just for the local body elections to finish, and now he has started to show his true color.

[vs007]

CNN-IBN is the first national media giving positive coverage to TN. First it was the Growing face of Chennai Suburbs, and now ......
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The history of south India can be traced back to over 2,000 years. However, it was only 50 years ago when the four southern states were created along linguistic lines.

CNN-IBN unveils the changing face of south India and celebrates the Dravidian spirit in a special series The Golden South.

Chennai: Almost every Tamilian family has an NRI relative, someone who went abroad for education and then stayed on.

But today, it looks like many NRI Tamilians are returning to turn investors, social workers, or even politicians.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/tns-non-...k/25321-3.html