When it comes to bomb blasts, it’s one thing to listen to news, which is almost by definition objective and dispassionate, and another to listen to personal accounts from bloggers. The attack on Benazir Bhutto’s convoy last night is a case in point.

Read this report from Metroblogger Zainub Razvi . Don’t stop there, go to the Karachi Metblogs home page and read other accounts from bloggers on the morning after. This is also a place where you can vent your anger at such acts of atrocity.

For the non-tamilian readers, the title means – “Do Not Enter My Area”…

[Source: The Hindu] A dozen stray dogs were shot dead in a multiplex at Kanathur village, East Coast Road on Monday morning. Visitors to the multiplex were aghast to see the multiplex staff supervise a group of ‘narikuravas’ shoot down the animals using country rifles. They were alerted to the shooting when they heard a loud noise around 10 a.m. When they rushed out of the building, they saw the shooters position themselves behind plants, take aim at the community dogs and shoot them down one by one. The dead animals were buried in the sprawling multiplex campus.

One of the shooters told The Hindu that they were asked to shoot down a large number of dogs but most of them ran away soon after the first shot was fired. Staff said that visitors to the multiplex had filed several complaints of dogs attacking them. They claimed they had no other option but to shoot them down. Further, dogs assembled outside the multiplex premises, where restaurant waste was dumped.

The dogs scavenging for food often came into the multiplex premises, they said. The multiplex falls under the Tirupporur Panchayat Union. Officials said the village panchayat, while expressing shock at the incident, said they were unaware of it. Volunteers of the Animal Welfare Protection Trust, based in Vengaivaasal near Tambaram, said shooting stray dogs was in violation of rules laid down to protect animals.

Now, what do I say about this? I agree that sometimes, stray dogs in a public place may be a menace. But, killing them for that??? Who gave us the right to do that? What if one day the dogs decide that humans are a menace and attack them? Why would you want to kill them? You may catch them, move them to somewhere else. But, why kill them? Why wasn’t the Blue Cross notified of this incident? The way, these poor souls have been shot down – it seems to be ruthless execution in the purest form.

Why did a lot of dogs start breeding in that locality in the first place? My blind guess would include the following explanations – 1. Excessive littering of food and other biodegradable wastage in the locality and 2. Vacant lands near-by which are unkept. Maybe we should try to address the actual problem instead of going on a killing spree. This is not 16th century Mexico. This is the land of Buddha, the land where love is dissolved in all forms of philosophy, the land of Ahimsa! (no pun intended!)

Outlook this week has decided to focus on the rapidly industrializing Southern States. Typical of such stories, there are half a dozen boring articles on cultural conservatism of the typical ‘Madrasi’, arguing both cases. Among this usual nonsense, I found this interesting quote by Chandralekha, every time she is asked on the cultural conservatism of the South:

“Consider this case. A popular actor/chief minister dies. His wife and concubine contest his legacy and fight the election. The people vote his concubine as his heir. By what yardstick do you call this cultural conservatism?” [Link]

Among the usual retorts, I especially like this one.

Today is Kannadasan’s birthday. Nope, this is not a post on Kannadasan. Today, every politician worth his/her salt made a trek to his statue and garlanded it. the statue is located some where in T Nagar (I did not know until today, that such a statue existed). I was left wondering how long before all the cross roads in Chennai has a statue.

Under the current condition, and expected exponential growth in statues over the next 50 years, Marina beach might not be big enough to accommodate all the statues. My provisional list consists of

1) M Karunanidhi
2) J Jayalalitha
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Uh.. for the benefit of people who cannot understand Tamil, this is what is written in the picture.

Building an Overbridge for Uninterrupted traffic at NH4 Koyambedu intersection.
Stipulated Completion Date : April 2007.

You get the picture now, don’t you.

Just have been checking out some of the videos on CNN- IBN. After a commenter on one of my personal post had posted about a video link from CNN-IBN, found an interesting news about Bangalore Traffic police going High tech.

All it takes is a black berry phone and small hand held printer. And the black berry connected to a live data server offering information on repeated offenders when searched. The new service will be available from 1st of June 2007 @ Bangalore.

I guess Chennai traffic police needs these high tech gadgets.

Well here is the link to the video

I am a voter in the Thousand Lights Assembly Constituency and Chennai (Central) Parliamentary constituency. The frenzied family fight in the ruling DMK has pitted my MLA (M.K.Stalin) against my M.P. (Dayanidhi Maran). Now that Dayanidhi Maran has been issued a show cause notice as to why he should not be dismissed from the primary membership of the party, it has to be seen whether he will remain as an independent MP or will resign from the Parliament.

In case he resigns, we will have a mid term poll tamasha. It might provide an opening for ADMK to split the ruling coalition the state. As it is, the PMK has made clear that they aren’t happy with the way DMK government is functioning. The temparature is not the only hot thing in Chennai now a days, the politics is getting hotter.

…is happening on the 11th of May. Around 11 lakh people are expected to visit the city in addition to VVIP’s like Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.

If at all you have plans of going out on May 11th, ensure that you avoid the key areas of this function(Island grounds). Traffic situation is going to be a nightmare, with all the planned traffic diversions. So, plan accordingly!

On April 1, 2007 while traveling on the Beach Road , I found that there were many boats in the sea.
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I was at Nungamabakkam on 18th March, when former Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalithaa was on fast against the Tamil Nadu Government’s stance in the Cauvery Tribunal verdict issue. There was a crowd, but not enough to disturb the traffic. The traffic too was less due to it being a Sunday. The cadres present too were listless.

Today there is a agitation led by DMDK leader Vijaykanth in North Madras, this time against the rising prices. The crowd started pouring in right from the morning. By 11.00 AM the entire Rajaji Salai was jam packed with vehicles, mostly autos, hired by DMDK.

In politics, perception is everything. Are we seeing a shift in TN politics?