Go anywhere in Chennai, particularly the Southern suburbs, and you will see hundreds of plastic bags lying by the roadside. Mounds and mounds of them, non-biodegradable for hundreds of years, with no chance of proper disposal the way garbage is collected and cleared. According to The Hindu in a Novermber, 2005 article, the Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dumping yards had 240 tonnes of plastic bags being dumped in them everyday! The same article highlights the fact that the terrible flooding in Mumbai and Chennai during the monsoons that year were, in part, because of the thousands of plastic bags clogging the drainage channels in both cities. Check out this article here. The sad thing is, despite a bill being brought up to ban the use of plastic bags in Chennai in 2001, it was not passed. How much damage do we need to our surroundings before the government will realize the importance of doing this? Are environmental protection groups working on this? What is the Tamil Nadu Pollution Board doing about this vexing situation? With all the good work they have done on noise, water and air pollution, one only hopes they will pick up this cause and ensure a bill is passed banning the use of plastic bags. Then we can work to reclaim our environment and our children’s heritage.

After lifestyle apartments, time now for ‘healthy community’ real estate. KG Developers are promoting Green Meadows at Velachery. According to this report:

To be called KG Green Meadows, the project with a projected investment of INR 50 crores, will be a boon to health and lifestyle conscious citizens of Chennai. Green Meadows is slated to be the first of its kind healthy living complex centrally located in the heart of the city, with a unique Oxygen Parlour and numerous other lifestyle enriching amenities such as jogging track, reflexology pathway, meditation centers, steam, sauna, jacuzzi, gymnasium and swimming pool. KG Developers and Promoters have since acquired 4 acres in Velachery where the project will come up. The project is scheduled for completion by early 2008.

Designed to international specifications, KG Green Meadows would have 100 inward-facing semi-detached villas, garden apartments and penthouses, which allow individuals to shut off the noise and traffic pollution on the roads. The 2 & 3 bedroom villas ranging from 1500-1800 sq ft., will promote and fulfill the needs of a growing number of health & wellness conscious consumers who are looking for easily accessible amenities, that help them lead a healthy lifestyle amidst their hectic schedules.

For more details on the project, take a look at the KG Developers’ Green Meadows website.

Postcards have been received over the last few days at the city port, the Jaya TV office and the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple warning of bomb attacks on them. The postcard written to Jaya TV on Monday warned the channel to stop broadcasting news against Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi. A bomb detection squad, however, found no bombs in the premises of the office.
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Indian Air Force organized a 2 day Air Show at Chennai on April 21 and April 22, 2007 as part of its Platinum Jubilee Celebrations. While the Airshow on April 21, 2007 was for the families of the airmen and a select group of guests at Tambaram, the Airshow on April 22, 2007 was held for the public at Marina Beach.
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It’s really hard to make out how the progress on the IT Corridor is executed. Sometimes the pace is fast, at times very slow with very little visible progress. It really seems to be moving along in fits and starts; every time a politician throws a fit about the schedule, it starts to speed up! In the meantime, the road is quite a mess, although the authorities have done their best to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, including diverting traffic at the Life Line Hospital to the Velachery Link Road and thence to SRP Tools. As is often the case, the traffic of course does not co-operate, finding various ways of getting back to the single lane Corridor and jamming the traffic heading out towards Mahabalipuram. It’s also quite dangerous during rush hour, because the traffic tends to get frenzied, flowing over both sides of dividers, or where ever it finds a gap.
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Thus spoke our venerable Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sunil Kumar after sharing with media the number of cases for speeding and rash driving booked over the last ten days (17,000 and 2000 respectively). Of course it would! But who knows what they are? Where are they available? Fact is, most motorists are woefully unaware of what is expected of them, leave alone the rules. Even the licensing procedures are structured in a way that thousands of people get a driving license without ever understanding what the traffic rules are, and more importantly, why they are framed. Two things are of paramount importance: FIRST, communicate to the public what the traffic rules are, and what is expected of them; SECOND, having communicated them adequately, police them stringently for a while to ensure compliance (that’s what the police are there for!). Then, once people have become used to following them, everyone will start doing so as a matter of course. But it’s ridiculous to expect that, in a scenario where most don’t know what the rules are, and the police have not enforced anything in years, to suddenly expect people to “adhere to traffic rules” or “exercise self-discipline”.

As I was about to get into the maiden scull this morning to row, the lascars (boatmen) pointed out a deer standing on the opposite bank of the Adyar! It was clearly one of the spotted deer from the Guindy National Park that had somehow found its way out of the park, to the river and followed its course up to this point. The lascars would call out to the deer, and she would stand very still and listen with her ears pointed and alert. But she wouldn’t move from that spot for some reason. Later, as I rowed past, I took a look at her, to find her peacefully foraging on the greenery growing at that spot. Close by, in the shallows, were a number of stork like birds (the kind that migrate all the way from Siberia to the lakes, rivers and wetlands around Chennai such as such as Pallikaranai every winter) feeding on the insects on the water surface. If one looked only at this vista, the deer, the river bank and the birds, it was hard to believe that this was Kotturpuram, Chennai! Still, I hope someone informs the rangers at the Guindy National Park as to her presence so that they come and collect her. My fear is that stray dogs may attack her as a pack and pull her down although there was none of them around at that time.

At last! A major portion of the Pallikaranai Marsh has been declared a reserve forest area and brought under the Tambaram range of the Forest department according to an article in The Hindu. A special Thasildar has been appointed to specify the boundaries and the extent of the marshland to be brought under the control of the Forest department. In all about 317 hectares, or 793 acres, have been classified as a reserve forest area. The department would take stringent action against trespassers, and those dumping or burning garbage in this area. This is indeed reason to celebrate! However, the Perungudi garbage ‘dumping yard’ of the Chennai Corporation, which falls under the Pallikaranai Marsh, a sensitive ecological wetland area, is not mentioned in the article. Can we expect to see some positive developments with regard to this blot on our landscape that is destroying part of our natural heritage?

The dreams are two-toned: braided earrings, bamboo patterned bangles, rhodium coating surfacing here and there on the jewellery, we must choose elite neck wear, those Khazana types are so passe says the friendly voice that floats overhead. L wakes up to an early sunrise; the sun is in a hurry too. Fresh filter coffee is offered to the husband and purchasing plans are slyly weaved into the first conversation. Or the plans are explained bluntly, I shall go and make my selection. Will you come along later or shall I swipe the add-on to your card? Or independent woman L announces, I am going jewellery shopping today. Let me see if I find a matching ring for you.

Traffic jam at 7:30 in the morning. L swears softly and waves aside passers-by in impatience. Or L smiles and waits patiently, dreaming of diamonds; but wait, isn’t the auspiciousness only for gold? When in doubt one must call an expert and who better informed on market trends than grandpa. Of course the pick of the year is platinum. Don’t you read The Hindu? fumes grandpa as she disturbs his morning newspaper reading ritual. I don’t know why you and that grandson of mine insist on reading The Indian Express. L thinks of saying suda suda news or something equally cheesy in defence of The New Indian Express but she lets the urge pass. So many patterns to keep in mind, so many shops to walk in and out of. And the crowds! Good Lord, she mutters as she finds the road packed with policemen. I am sure The Hindu would have mentioned special bandobast. She hurries in the direction of GRT, oh no, not that crowded one in Usman Road, but the new one in North Usman. Maybe, just maybe, after buying the rhodium coated bangles she will cross the road to Sundari Silks and find a matching saree to wear it with.
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