I recently met with a chennai veteran who told me this interesting backdrop to the Burma Bazaar of Chennai, which accounts for most of our media hightlights, that I thought I’d share it with y’all.

So, here’s how the story apparently goes. Back in the days, around the time when we had just gotten our independence, there were quite a few people from the region who were working in plantations in Burma. There was a sizeable working population that was from India, and life went on. When a new emperor/king took over Burma, as a means of doing what Srilanka started off to do as well, the government wanted to increase the chances of locals getting employed, so kicked out all the non-burmese population out of the country. Quite a few countries interfered and so did India, especially TamilNadu.

Out of humanitarian concern, the govt of tamilnadu setup a strip of land, where the refugees could sell whatever posessions they had - most of them were plantation equipment, so that with that money they could start a living. This was around 1962. The selling still goes on :)

How much of this is true, I am not sure, but it certainly rings true from whatever research I’ve done. Have you heard any other story? Can someone add to this, if they do more?

This city has such a rich heritage of the past. Would love to dig up more stories like this.

Photo Credit: The Hindu.

During the Third Chennai Photowalk on January 13, 2007, we came across Bairagi Madam Arulmigu Thiruvengadamudayan Venkatesa Perumal Thirukovil in General Muthiah Mudali Street at Sowcarpet. Though some snaps were taken we did not go inside the temple. Read more

I don’t know if you have seen the ads in the newspapers. At Sathyam Cinemas, Bhargavi Nilayam , movie written by Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, will be shown on January 27. But this is not about the festival celebrating Basheer and his contribution to literature. This is about a pretty interesting (at least to me) collective called Perch.
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It is a classic rich vs poor case.

CASE:
A month ago ( Dec 14) Chennai woke up to the Mecerdes Benz deaths in the metro , when a 16 year old son of a high profile businessman drove his plush car over sleeping pavement dwellers and a priest riding a two wheeler, after catching a late night movie at a multiplex.

UPDATE: The boy who surrendered (after initial attempts to get the family chauffeur to take the blame failed , thanks to a vigilant police officer) has been booked . He is charged under three sections of the IPC ( for causing death by negligence, causing hurt and endangering the life and safety of others, and for rash driving).
The case is currently on, and in keeping with the Juvenile Justice Act, proceedings are in camera.
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A friend of mine and I, got together to meet up over coffee, partially entailing to proto.in coming up and the inevitable tasks that are pending at hand. I guess the success of any initiative is directly proportional to how stressed and tied up you are at a few days before and after the blessed days, I guess. But I am certainly digressing here.

Apart from the discussions, while he asked me why I still stay in Chennai, I guess the answer was simple, “There is a certain warmth about this city that one can’t deny”.
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On New Year’s Eve, as the city celebrated a tragedy was unfolding at the Savera, a pretty old hotel in the city. Three persons, including two engineering students, dancing over a newly erected stage fell into a swimming pool below and died. While one of them, Sumit Agnihotri, 24, died immediately, two more Anand Sridharan and his cousin Ramya died later at Apollo Hospitals.
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So, I’ve always wondered what the inside of a jewelry store was like. Nah, not the shopping-for-wedding kind of curiosity. There you’re pretty much bombarded by everything they’re trying to throw at you, or gawping so hard at bling so obviously out of your range (for me, that is), that there’s no time to take in anything else. What I mean is what goes on behind scenes, sort of. It isn’t to be expected that you, as a total stranger, will be shown the whole caboodle, but you can ask, right?

I decided that I’d ask the GRT Thangamaligai store people to let me have a peek inside their machinery. After about a dozen phone calls and rescheduling of appointments, it finally did happen. I met the big guys. On their own turf, so to speak.
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As some of you reading this will know, the Second Chennai Photowalk was walked. And photographed. 7 of us, this time. A drop from the first walk. But I am hoping that this grows. So, without too much of a rambling intro, here are photos.

We started from the fort, or to be precise, from across the road.

For those not in the know, the fort is in

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I have been mulling over what to write about, to keep the interest and continuity going and I think I found the topic. It is said that there are about 40 - 50 statues of famous event and people that are all around Chennai. I am not aware of where they are, and most of the time, I keep standing and gazing at the statue hoping that it would just start talking and tell me who they are supposed to be. Yep, I am clueless in most cases as to what these statues represent. There is supposed to be a plank that explains it all, but most of these statues are bang in the centre of busy intersections, that i’d be risking my life trying to get to the status to read it.

I thought I’ll risk it for you all. My journey for the next couple of weeks is to go hunt down all the status and landmarks of chennai and post them here. If anyone wants to join, they are more than welcome to.

Here is all starts, with the statue of Kannagi..
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The state government plan to give the city an airport of international standards has again met with an obstacle. Following a petition by the residents of Manapakkkam, a city suburb, the Madras High Court on Wednesday decided to grant an interim stay preventing the government from acquiring land in the village.
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