Dear Jeppiyaar and other Engineering college owner brothers,

1. Separate staircases and elevators for boys and girls.
2. Separate work areas for ladies and gents
3. Separate dining areas for ladies and gents
4. They decline to shake hands with our clients many of whom happen to have 2 X chromosomes.
5. Iron grill creating separate seating areas for men and women in buses.
6. Separate mousepads for girls and boys
7. Your boys also refuse to work on code written by girls, and in our company, I’m afraid team work is critical
8. We have video conferences, and your boys refuse to look into the camera because they are afraid that they might accidentally make eye contact with girls.
9. Some of them are complaining to our security demanding separate corridoors and coffee machines for boys and girls.
10. Their productivity is very poor unless we make our security officers stand around in the work areas. Apparently, they are so used to “squads” that they find life without them impossible.

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Hrish Thota and Co., the people behind FilmCamp.Tv - a film academy in B’lore, are spreading the film making spirit to Chennai this December.

On Decmeber 9th, 2007 (Sunday) they are organizing the first film-making workshop in Chennai. The one day workshop aims to provide a hands-on experience in film making, under the guidance of professionals. It covers every aspect of film making, from script writing, story boarding, shooting (with the cameras they provide) and editing with Final Cut Pro (on the Apple Mac that they provide at the venue).

With professionals to help you at each stage of film making, this workshop will give you an undiluted insight into the world of film making. The event starts at 8:30 am in the morning and stretches till late in the evening, by when they promise to educate you to complete your first short film (one minute).

This concept has been a roaring success in B’lore, where they have managed to get participants to finish 11 films in the past workshops held there. They also help you popularize your film, by launching it on their site.

All this, for just 1000 bucks. Trust me it is worth every rupee. When I made my first film, I had to go thro’ a lot of pains, without people to guide me and learning small things the hard and costly way. But here you get all the knowledge in just a day for a mere sum of Rs. 1000.

Also you will be put into a random 5 member team at the venue (the venue details will be mailed to you at the time of registration), which adds to the real life experience of many film makers. While making a film, you have to get in touch with many strangers and make them visualize what you have in mind, an art that any good director/script writer must possess. FilmCamp.tv gives you an opportunity to test that too.

The registration process if fairly simple, just shoot them a mail at direct [at] filmcamp.tv and they will guide you.

FilmCamp.tv - Chennai Workshop

There is a good old trustworthy way of having things sorted out in the history of this city and its darn authorities. Problem identified, Problem AVOIDED, problem gone! (Read as forgotten)
Did i even mention about resolving a problem at hand, i apologize. I wasn’t thinking like the average chennai’te govt authority which makes me unconsciously productive.
I was doing some casual reading and I came across this random article on the Anna University banning the use of cell phones in colleges as a disciplinary measure. Adding to this, they also instruct people to wear this and wear that and not to wear tight fitting clothes that may look attractive, blah blah blah and everything. I’m stupefied, completely! Okay i know I’m too late to talk about this now but hey if we don’t talk about this who else will fix this?
I’m not a student of Anna university, i don’t work for any newspaper who pays me to write this nor do i have any personal grudge that i hold against Anna university. However like every average individual I’m concerned about the decisions, our so called authorities are making for us because some of them are out rightly low in thought process and analysis. So bad that you could visit the KMC Hospital wards and observe the patients blabber and you would not find it any different.
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Kanini is an initiative by the Chennai chapter of Bharat Uday Mission (www.BhumiChennai.co.nr) to take computers to children who do not have access to them
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On account of Teacher’s Day, you see. I thought I might write something that threw the spotlight on teachers.

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
~ Carl Jung

“I’ve been in the teaching field for 36 years,” she smiles. “And I don’t think I shall ever tire of it. It’s the noblest profession there is - because it’s not just about you. It’s about the next generation you help raise.”

A beatific expression graces the visage of Eugenie Pinto, Principal of the Queen Mary’s College, as we sit opposite each other in her spacious office, which projects a soothing aura of contrasting presences: today’s world, and an olde worlde charm that is quintessentially QMC. I have just wound my way through old and statuesque buildings still bearing remnants of the British Raj’s aura, around a bust of regal Queen Mary, and up corridors that positively reek of history, to meet Eugenie - and am aware, at once, that here sits a lady who has taken to the profession for all the right reasons: a sincere love for the vocation, a talent for foresight, and a genuine wish to assist those around her.
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“A woman attended a workshop for rural women in Haryana, with her 6 month old boy and 3 year old daughter. That night, the boy fell seriously ill. The mother wrung her hands, wailing from one person to another, unable to know what to do. Sometime later, the NGO that had organized the workshop made arrangements for a doctor to visit, and the little boy was saved.” Rasheeda Bhagat paused. “When it was all over, the mother said, I wish this had happened to my daughter.”

The words of the veteran journalist, needless to say, caused more than a stir - for it highlighted the terrible fate of women and girl children in the country, particularly in the states of Haryana, Chandigarh and Gujarat. Such was the mortal fear the mother lived in, that her son was the only guarantee of her ever living a halfway normal life in her husband’s home. It served to throw light on the lives most women still led, despite these emancipated times - and directly connected to a disaster that still rocks the country: female foeticide.

On a warm evening at the Oxford Bookstore met a panel of eminent writers, novelists, journalists and activists to launch and discuss senior journalist Gita Aravamudan’s book, Disappearing Daughters. The book focuses on the tragedy of female foeticide in India. Gita Aravamudan has explored different aspects of female foeticide, its beginnings and its backlash, the ways it grows and how it can be stemmed. The panellists were stalwarts of the current literary and activist scene: Andal Damodaran, Vice President of the Indian Council for Child Welfare, Thilakavathi, additional DGP and acclaimed author, and Rasheeda Bhagat, senior journalist and author.
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Took me a while to get my thoughts in order about all the events I had attended/heard about, and give a precis of what exactly happened during Madras Week 2007. Most events were interesting, some were repeats, while a few were outstanding. Be warned, you’re in for a long post.

In the beginning, it was a gathering of a few like-minded friends who cared a great deal about the city. Then, it grew to a series of meetings. More came to know of what transpired during these sessions, and signaled their interest to join. In 2006, it exploded into existence as one of the most happening occasions - and now it is the premier event of Chennai, eclipsing all else in August to the point of exclusion, with more than 60 events happening all over the city, put together by a number of organizations and Chennai-lovers. Le Madras Week, 2007.
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Where is the world coming to? Seven-year-old student? Kendriya Vidyalaya? Was this guy retarded enough to believe that he could get away with this? How did they hire such a sick character at the school?

[Source: CNN-IBN]A seven-year-old student in Chennai has alleged that she was raped by a school employee at the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Ashok Nagar. The student’s parents say the girl was asked by a teacher to go to a classroom where a man was waiting with chocolates. The man turned out be the lab assistant who took her to a room and allegedly raped her. The incident has shocked parents of students studying at the school. “We just want more transparency,” says Lata.

Meanwhile, parents of the victim have filed a complaint based on which the police have begun investigations. But the school authorities maintain they are not at fault. “We assure you none of our teachers are in the wrong. We are conducting an inquiry and anyone found guilty will be severely dealt with,” says Assistant Commissioner, Kendra Vidyalaya Sanghatan, Chennai region, E Prabhakar.

Often I have read news from across the world about rapists and psychopaths molesting/sexually assaulting helpless children and often wondered how could they do this? I mean, whats exactly going through their mind when they try to pull off something as stupid and sick as this?

I wouldn’t be surprised if this lab assistant is found guilty and then gets away with a minimum punishment like suspension. I strongly believe that the government should have a database of criminals and these characters (if found guilty) should be enlisted in that database as child molesters. And other organizations that have anything to do with children should check this database before hiring anyone. Of course, that still doesn’t mean that the hired person is 100% OK. It probably just means that he hasn’t been caught so far. But, its one step ahead in protecting our children against these monsters. Then again, this is not an isolated incident. These have been happening for years and it will continue to happen in future too. Still, we have to look at what we can do to minimize it.

The parents send their kids to school believing that they are safe inside the campus. They trust the teachers and other school employees with lives of their beloved ones. How could an educated teacher play part in this? Well, Maybe I am jumping the gun here. Maybe we should just wait till the police investigates and hopefully find the truth.

Scorching May’s torture has given away to a slightly merciful June. Among other things, I’ve finally found a few minutes to breathe, after having spent two months running after … kids. Why, you ask? It’s the season of Summer Workshops, of course.

Holidays can be a rather indeterminate time. Gone are the days when parents simply let the kids loose, just telling them half-heartedly to “play in the shade” - not that anyone was going to listen - and let it at that. Come hell or high-water, it was kid-business after that, and parents could go hang. I myself, have known the joy of rolling around filthy streets and returning in the evenings, smelling like an orc. The city, however, has other ideas. What with schools vying with each other to satisfy parents’ demands about producing child prodigies that have to develop an IQ of 187 and find the cure to cancer, AIDS and other life-threatening diseases or blow up this world … the poor things desperately need some time off. After all, as one parent eagerly put it to me, it’s not all about studying, is it? A child needs to be well rounded. There needs to be some Value Addition. Children have to take back something deep and fulfilling within their hearts. To do something actually worthwhile, without running mamas and papas ragged, or feel guilty as hell that they aren’t devoting enough time to him or her. They have to learn pottery-making, papier-mâché doll-making, puppet-making, shadow theatre, mat-weaving, karate, judo, take back home clumps of activity sheets - and have fun besides. Tough job.

The answer: Workshops.
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Now, bargain it might be called, good or bad depends on what you are looking for and what you end up finding. Chenthil alerted me to this sale and indicated that paperbacks of thrillers were available at great deals.
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