Police Lawyer Clash at the Chennai High Court

By now, you must have seen or at least heard of the clash between the city police and the lawyers inside the High Court premises.
These tensions are the off-shoot of incidents happening over the years-the constant heckling of the young policemen on court duty. Not even the policewomen are spared by some bad elements the lawyers numbering about some fifteen to twenty lawyers. These young policewomen suffer eve-teasing and constant heckling from some lawyers.It is these lawyers that is holding the state to ransom and also forcing the other lawyers not to attend to their duty.
The grim situation raises some serious disturbing questions? Are these lawyers who are so concerned about the Srilankan Tamils not at all concerned about the plight of the Tamils in Tamilnadu,? The courts have functioned just for ten days in the past two months.. And justice delayed is justice denied!
Are lawyers above the law and are they being permitted to behave in whatever manner they choose because they are sure that they will not be arrested?
Isn't it time to cleanse the system and get these twenty-something lawyers punished for their offensive behaviour?Permanently bar them from entering the court premises so that the judicial systems and procedures can be conducted in peace and without fear?
When are the judiciary and the other decent and law-abiding lawyers ( who are the majority) going to rise in protest, and when are they going to act before the judicial system is permanently scarred?

Police and the lawyers have to work towards a reconciliation and sort out this issue once and for all as they are the two arms of the law-system in any civilised society and have to work together to mantain peace.

Woodlands Drive-In Restaurant

The Drive-In which has been a part and parcel of Chennai for a long long time has disappeared, and so is a small part of the soul of Chennai. For long, the restaurant used to be a favorite haunt of many. People used to meet there, and linger for long after the cup of coffee. The famed PB Srinivas, yesterday playback singer, used to literally make the restaurant his second home.I think he got many a inspiration there for I have always seen him writing something in his book. During the sixties, the restaurant used to be a really posh place. The tables and chairs were all cane, and each table was covered with pristine white tablecloth. The tablecloth was changed after each meal.The cutlery was all new and porcelain, and the meals were served with a fork, spoon, and a knife. I am sure that recent memories of the restaurant would make these fond recollections of mine difficult to digest. The restaurant had been slowly running to seed the past few years. Probably, the management knew that the lease would not be renewed. The cutlery was sometimes chipped. The porcelain plates were all the more hardy stainless steel plates. The tables and chairs and in general the decor was bad. The menu was not improved and remained the same for the last fifty years. But to its credit, the masala dosa was always the same, and one never got a stomach problem after eating at the Drive-In. Inspite of all the drawbacks, the restaurant still used to draw huge family crowds especially during the weekends, though there plenty of new swankier eating spots in Chennai. The main advantage of the Drive-In was the huge drive, expanse of space surrounded by giant leafy trees, plenty of chirping birds. The ambience will sorely be missed in Chennai!

Chennai sans Hoardings!

I was pleasantly surprised when I returned in the first week of June after a two-month holiday in the US. The ugly and huge hoardings which were part and parcel of Chennai's skyline had all disappeared! One could now actually see the old massive trees in front of some buildings. Of course, most of them have been chopped mercilessly to make the hoardings more visible.But I am reaaly happy that the Corporation of Chennai is at last pulling up its socks and doing some work. In the past, all the local politicians always used to go on harping about making Chennai a world-class city, but nobody actually did anything. I feel the present Corporation Commissioner and the Mayor are coperating well, and doing something concrete for the city. Though I feel happy that the hoardings have all gone, my teenage daughter disagrees.She actually missses them, saying that they used to add color and life to the city. I am not sure whether all the younger lot feel the same way!

Chennai Sangamam 2008

Chennai is the place to be in December and January especially for music and art lovers.The yearly music festival is on throughout the Sabhas in Chennai.Now,there is another festival going on in Chennai. Chennai Sangamam Festival 2008 was inaugurated at the IIT Open Air Theater on 10 January.The mascot of the festival is a bull named Marimuthu. The theme of inaugural function was the festival Pongal which is round the corner, and environment.The festival of Pongal was depicted in colorful art forms,dances accompanied by good music. The festival of Pongal and its significance was explained in the voice of the mascot.Marimuthu spoke of the garbage in the streets and how there is plastic everywhere on the roads,degrading the environment.Children from the Corporation Schools formed the majority of the dancers. They made a vow to preserve their culture, and stop pollution. The message was that the Generation Next had awakened. The chief guest of the evening was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Like last year, the festivals will be conducted in the various parks,beaches and street corners.It will conclude on 16 January.

A new world class library for Chennai!

There is good news for book lovers.Chennai will be the first Indian city to get a world class library soon. On the governement land at Kotturpuram earmarked for a new secretariat by the old AIADMK Government,The DMK Governement has now decided to build a huge library costing about RS 120 crores. The library will be housed in a total area of about eight acres.The design for the library will be finalized after floating a global tender. It will be on the lines of the library at Singapore. The library will be completed by April 2010.
The building will have eight floors and will have a plinth area of more than 300000 sq ft. The library can house about 1250 book lovers at the same time, and can accomodate about 11.5 lakh books. The complex will also have a separate auditorium with a capacity of 1280 people, and a amphitheater on the terrace.
The ground floor will have a Braille and a talking book section, two conference halls, and a internet cafe. The first floor will be exclusively for children.The Tamil books will be housed on the second floor, English books on the third, and books on Dravidian languages other than Tamil on the fourth floor. The fifth floor will stock back issues of newspapers and periodicals. The Government documents will be preserved on the sixth floor. Collections from donors and a audio visual section will be housed on the seventh floor.The eight floor will have rare books, a preservation unit, and digitial libraries.

Chennai Metro!

Close on the heels of Calcutta and New Delhi, Chennai will also have its own Metro Rail. The project costing a mammoth Rs 9757 Crores was announced by the Central Government as a Diwali Gift for
Chennai. The Tamil Nadu and the Central Governement will chip in with the money.Money will also be borrowed from a Japanese Bank. The project will commence in the latter half of 2008 and finish in about four to five years. The Metro will be partly underground and be about 40 kilometers in length. it will run in two corridors. One corridor will connect Washermanpet to the Airport touching Egmore, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Saidapet and Guindy. The underground portion will be between Anna Salai and Saidapet.
The second corridor will run between Fort Station,and St Thomas Mount via Poonamallee High Road, Aminjakarai, Anna Nagar, Thirumanagalam, Koyambedu, Ashok Nagar and Alandur.The underground section will be between Poonamallee High Road and Thirumangalam.

Chennai is 368 years young !

Chennai celebrated its 368th birthday on Wednesday, 22nd 2007.Madras day is being celebrated for the past four years. This time, heritage walks and talks have been organized by the famous city historian S Muthiah and a few other people. This is a city still very deep rooted in culture, and which is growing modern at a breathtaking speed. Sadly, many of its heritage buildings have been pulled down and have given way to ugly multi storied buildings. Few people can forget the old Moore Market with its little shops , selling everything under the sun. One could pick up rare second hand books there. Recently, the old Bharat Insurance Building on Anna Salai was saved from the bull dozers by the Madras High Court. It is being renovated now.

Chennai is growing very fast .There seem to be new constructions coming up everywhere. One can see massive gleaming IT Parks on the Ring Road. The It Corridor (OMR) looks very inviting. The first stretch has been completed and hopefully the whole length of the road will be completed before 2008.

For those of you who do not live at Chennai, the price of one ground of land on that stretch (OMR) is a mind boggling Rs One Crore. Hard to imagine, huh!