The Public Work’s Department (PWD) has been given the responsibility of cleaning up the city’s waterways before the onset of the monsoon with a budget of Rs 4 crores. This being done as part of the effort to ensure proper drainage of the rain water to prevent flooding. The PWD is all set to repair the Otteri Nullah and the Virugambakkam- Arumbakkam canal, as well as de-silt and remove obstructions in the canal carrying the outflow from the Ambattur lake. The department will also de-silt and remove garbage and vegetation from the entire stretch of the Buckingham Canal’s course as it flows through the city and clan up the Kodungaiyur Canal. The city’s various lakes are also in for a clean up with Veerangal lake, Porur lake and its outflow canal slated for a make over. And finally, the pallikaranai marsh will be cleaned up with the removal of garbage, weeds and vegetation from Velachery lake up to Okkiyam Thoraipakkam. Now if only they could keep it that way, starting with ceasing the dumping of garbage in the Pallikaranai Marsh by the Chennai Corporation.

If you’d like to give something back to the generation that got us here, here are a few addresses you could visit. I’m sure anything you contribute would be welcome. Time I believe would be the most precious.

Anbagam
Besant Avenue, Adyar, Chennai-20.
Ph: 24915047

Anbu Karangal
No. 1/216, Vivekananda Street, K.K.Nagar, Chennai-78.
Ph: 24925252

Kaakkum Karangal
No. 11, East Mada Street, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai-41.
Ph: 24401825

G.S.Senior Citizens Home
No. 184, Mylai Ranganathan Street, T.Nagar, Chennai-17.
Ph: 24347127

Help Age India
853, Poonamallee High Road, Thyagaraya Complex, Kilpauk, Chennai-10.
Ph: 25322149, 26480874

YWCA - Home for the Aged
No. 1086, Poonamallee High Road, Vepery, Chennai-7.
Ph: 25324251

Mercy Home
No. 54, Halls Road, Kilpauk, Chennai-10.
Ph: 26442820

Project Sarah-Va-Na
New No. 6, Old No. 34, Butt Road, JRS Complex, 1st Floor, St.Thomas Mount, Chennai-16.
Ph: 30989300

SV Home for the Aged
No. 8, Janakiram Colony, Arumbakkam, Chennai-106.
Ph: 24755700, 24755799

Sri Kumaran Home for the Aged
No. 61, Kumaran Chavadi, Usman Road, T.Nagar, Chennai-17.
Ph: 24342744

Nethaji Mercy Home
No. 12, Pandithurai Street, Kamarajapuram, Velachery, Chennai-42.
Ph: 22448447

Samaya Sweekruta Trust
No. 19-A, 4th Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai-20.
Ph: 24910593

Stree Seva Mandir
4th Avenue, Mahodaya, Ashok Nagar, Chennai-83.
Ph: 22487296

NCWI-Home for the Aged
No. 38, Greenways Road, Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai-28.
Ph: 24938888

Sivananda Saraswathi Old Age Home
No. 20, Kambar Street, Tambaram East, Chennai-59.
Ph: 22391078, 22392444, 22369078

The much awaied INOX Multiplex is to open today (January 19, 2007) at Chennai City Centre.
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From my ChennaiCentral blog archives (post dated April 21, 2006)

The localities within a city are an interesting study by themselves. In Coimbatore and its vicinity, one would find a lot of “pAlayam”s like MettupAlayam, PAppAnaicken pAlayam etc. Tiruchi has its share of “Ur”s and “Nagar”s like UraiyUr, TennUr, GAndhi Nagar etc. I don’t know much about Madurai and its suburbs and someone here may add to the discussion if they know about it. Among all the cities, the capital of Thamizhnaadu has possibly the most diverse of “similar-surname” localities. This list was compiled by my brother (with me adding several examples for each surname that I could think of) and I thank him for that (these are strictly not just pincodes although the majority are) :
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Yesterday, 16th of July, is forever etched in my memory as the day I got so close becoming a zombie.
It all began pretty normally though. Evam were putting on their hugely popular Monthy Python adaptation, their only show, in the Music Academy. And being a fan of Evam’s plays, I went.

Now, a little bit about theatre tradition in Chennai, nee Madras. This is where I am going to get all newspaper-y on you, so bear with me please. It makes it easier to dole out facts in this tone of voice.

~ahem~

The Tamil people have a strong tradition of performing arts. Temples and palaces were centres for dance performances, concerts, recitals and poetry contests. Vaudeville too was very common. Street theatre was a very popular medium of communication in the Tamil country, with both political and religious messages spread through performances on makeshift stages in heavily populated, congested areas.

English language theatre in Chennai can probably be traced to the birth of the Madras Players, who started off reading plays at the British Council.
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