I thought I would do a post on this subject of painted pumpkins and the like.

d4dpak and ravisha in their comments have explained it better. People use different variants to ward of the evil eye on something new and these fixtures can be seen in shops also. One such fixture commonly used is in the image above. Here the object is made of coconut tied with turmeric coated thread to which a large sized shell is tied up. Hung for display and sale in a shop at Bazaar Street, Mylapore. On closer examination i find an alum also forms part of this assembly.

Painted Pumpkins are tied in front of shops with the same belief. In Mumbai, 2 green chillies and one lemon fruit attached with a thread  will be sold at the traffic signals on Fridays (or is it on Tuesdays). The car owners / drivers buy and fix it in their front bumpers – I wish I had an image of this item.

In Temples, before the deity is taken on a procession, the pumpkin and  coconut  are taken by a person in a rotary motion, thrice in both clockwise and anticlockwise direction and breaks it on the ground. The lemon fruits are kept in front of the wheels and run over when the procession starts.

All these are performed with the belief that such practices will help ward off the evil eye.

the above is a collage of his home where he lived in triplicane & the plaque installed by the TN govt.

Check out more about Bharathi and his works here in the site hosted by the TN Govt.

Every year starting April 16^th, there is a ban on fishing in the Tamilnadu Coast from Thiruvallur to Kanyakumari Districts. Since scientists found fish breeding to be active in the eastern coastal belt during April and May, fishing by mechanised boats from Thiruvallur to Kanyakumari districts is prohibited between April 15 and May 29. The ban excludes fishing by country boats and catamarans.

The ban has come at a time when the heat was on the rise in Chennai. The sea food is an alternative to those who cannot consume meat during the Chennai heat. Because of the ban, the fish prices have gone through the roof. According to “The Hindu” retail plus of May 25,2008, seer fish is priced at Rs 300 to Rs 420 a kilo, Squids can range from Rs.80 to Rs.100 a kilo. Mackeral should be around Rs.100 a kilo while pomfret would range from Rs.200 to Rs.280 depending on size and colour. Crabs in season would cost Rs.160 per kilo but the price is dependent on the variety – like mud crabs, spotted ones,

If one is an early riser and visits the nearest beach, the day’s catch can be bought from the fisherman at a decent price. On this day, the fisherman was trying to sell the prawns  at Rs 8/- a piece. A morning walker in the beach was negotiating forRs 6/- a piece and settled for Rs 7/- a piece.

With the ban on fishing by mechanized boats ended on May 29, 2008 the supply of fish has increased and there are reports that the prices have started coming down.

(During a visit to Thiruvanmiyur beach on June 8, 2008, the visuals of the fishermen coming to the shore with their catch were shot and these images are posted here.)

It is interesting to see how the print war in Chennai would turn out to be. Because i remember two years back Mumbai witnessed the same boom in the newspaper market. There was launch of Daily News and Analysis or DNA which poached all the Big guys from TOI, DNA again threatened to wipe out the market of TOI, by aggressive marketing campaign and with a hope of delivering fresh insight into news, DNA’s entry was grand. Then followed The Hindustan Times, which again propagated its famous tag line “Le there be light”. Two years down the line the print war has mellowed down. Probably newspapers have figured out their respective audiences

So who ate into whose share still remains a question but it probably encouraged these papers to innovate and break the monotony. Chennai i hope will have the same signs it is probably good news for readers who can expect some good reporting. Apart from this the benefits are also to reporters who have shifted from one paper to the other and managed to get fat salaries ;) advertisers who would probably figure out a better target audiences and people like me who have managed to find something to talk about!!! And as one wise man pointed out once upon a time “Nothing is permanent but change”, so way to go Chennai

1. The road has been illegally encroached upon and the drainage in right in the centre of the road.
2. There is no tar road for more than half of Sakunthala street.
3. Unauthorised construction activities continue to happen on the road.
4. Debris and garbage lay scattered on the entire stretch.
5. Anti-social elements park their vehicles in the area and use it as a temporary bar.
6. No freedom for people to walk freely.

Several complaints were sent to the Chennai Corporation via e-mail in June, August and December of 2007 and most recently in February 2008.

These were questions that residents asked the Chennai Corporation. Are we not paying road tax, water tax and drainage tax regularly like any other citizens of Chennai? Will the corporation authorities initiate diligent action?

Suggested solutions:

1. Remove the debris from the road.
2. Keep the road clean so that people can walk on it.
3. Keep the road free of garbage.
4. Do not allow further unauthorised constructions on the road
5. Stop all construction activities happening without approval.
6. Take stern action against local anti-social elements

A reply from an assistant commissioner, Chennai Corporation, stated the following:

Regarding the bad condition of residential street received from Sekar Nagar: With reference to your e-mail message, it is informed that the above reference has been sent to Chennai Corporation for necessary action. Hence, you are requested to approach the Commissioner, Chennai Corporation with this regard.

Concrete action taken till date: NIL

Proof: Visible truth in the heart of busy locality.

(This email was received from Mr Suresh Babu, a software engineer. Only his email Id is available with Chennai Metblogs, which is not responsible for the veracity of the content of this post. Only the reader can confirm whether it’s true or not.)

(Rewritten with PTI inputs)

Singapore and Mumbai seem to have much better organised marathons. Don’t we in Chennai, rightfully have, a claim to have a well-organised marathon? Especially because this city is home to many groups of runners.