Saturday, April 25, 2009

sa_re_ga_me_pa_da_ni_se!!!: Singara chennai can be cleaner without Garbage Bins

sa_re_ga_me_pa_da_ni_se!!!: Singara chennai can be cleaner without Garbage Bins

Singara chennai can be cleaner without Garbage Bins

The first thing which hits you every morning when you go out for a walk is the Singara Garbage Bin placed all over the localities of Chennai. As you walk past, you are in for a shock as human heads sprout out of it suddenly from nowhere!! The terminology of peaceful co-existence is well defined by the Bins as many stray dogs also show their heads and wag tails indicating their presence in the tiny world of Bins!!Walking becomes a jig-zaw puzzle for many as the garbage bins spread strange odours, compelling walkers to hold their breathe for a much longer time which in a way, helps physical fitness!! No need for special Pranayama!! The part 2 of the walking episode makes one feel if he is in any Gowshala?? Many cows are allowed to graze whatever they can find on their way and sometimes, you are shocked to see cows eating plastic sachets with left over foods! Imagine the kind and quality of Milk that we are drinking every day!! The system of garbage bins distributed and placed in every nook and corner of the streets is something very strange. In most of the metros, the system of people coming to the house to collect garbage and disposing the same is well in place. states like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkotta and Bangalore adopt this. There are no garbage bins on the streets and the city looks atleast neater to that extent!! The placement of garbage bins attracts street urchins, scavengers, dogs and cows all alike and the result is that the garbage is opened from the plastic bags and strewn all over the roads which pushes back Singara chennai by many steps in terms of cleanliness besides the strong stench that it gives out to the nearby houses. Chennai has the history of "garbage dumping" in front of the houses. The Corporation is struggling to maintain the beauty of chennai and converting the city into Singara Chennai. The first thing which poses challenge to the corporation is the Garbage Bins that are placed all over and is an eye-sore besides the problems that it gives. The Garbage Bin system is a success in the western world because:
1. there are no scavengers to hunt for treasure in the garbage.
2. there are no stray dogs patrolling the localities and earmarking their territories.
3. there is no market for second hand plastic waste which is the main factor for the street urchins to jump into the Bins to retrieve any plastic material even if it meant scatterring the garbage all over.

There is no system of monitoring by the officials of the corporation to ensure that the garbage disposal is rightly in place.The chennai corporation should adopt NO Garbage Bin mode and instead ensure that the garbage is retained by the household itself for handing it over to the corporation workers everydayin the morning. This will not only make the city cleaner and present it beautiful but also ensure that the garbage hunting trade is finished once for all. The stray dogs will be forced to limit their families too as they will find it hard to find easy food!

I am giving Food for thought!!
let us hope things change for better in the coming days!

Rajagopalan K S

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Marriage- Strange live in relationship

Recently, The local daily carried a reporting about the divorce cases numbering more than 10,000 pending in the family courts, in chennai alone. This is quite alarming and forces anyone to think what causes this post marriage Heart-burn and throws a challenge to everyone as to how this can be tackled? Should we welcome this new concept in our lives? Is it not necessary for the Education ministry to introduce a subject right in the school about the essentials for leading a harmonious family life and the ways to achieve it as the child progresses in school and the career.

I have seen erosion of values from my time and come to terms when my mother tells the same thing about our present in comparison to her past!!


The day is not far off when there will be only living-in relationship between the couples. I know all my friends will be furious reading this. we have to face the fact especially after spending lacs of rupees on the marriages,only to find that the couple differ on princples and ideologies and habbits. it is hard for the parents to digest that they have spent huge sums on marriage without any happiness at the end. this may not be true in most cases but given a fair chance,even the so called married couples would like to part ways, if the society permitted them to do so!!

girls these days are quite independent and earning equally well. It is the men who have to come to terms about this change in the society. please forgive me and it is my humble request to all the so called eligible bachelors and their parents to accept the incoming girl as a member in the family. There should not be any expectation that the girl after the marriage would look after the boys parents or enter the kitchen and take charge as a cook despite her achievements in educational front!! Lets learn to look and take women with divinity and dignity.

please forgive me if i have hurt anyone's sentiments. I do not have a girl child. i have two boys only.

Rajagopalan kayesare@gmail.com

Makara Vilakku/Jyothi

I have been to sabarimala about 8 times and am a believer of Lord ayyappan. i had the opportunity to visit a hill plantation named Pachhakanam which borders kerala dn TN. it is at this place i was taken to a tribal hillock which faces the shrine of Sabarimala and as the crow flies, it is about 5 kms from the hill side view.I was told that on the makara sankaranthi day, the nambudiri from he sabarimala shrine is present at this place which is better known as ponnambala medu and exactly at the pre-fixed time, deepa aradhanai takes place in the temple and the tribals in this hill area, celebrate their harvest with a torch and hold it high with the help of bamboos which is seen as jyothi from the temple! i could not believe this but the truth is this, as told by the people around this place.I would beg excuse if i have hurt the sentiments through this column. Let the truth be known and the priests at sabarimala know this pretty well.
raju kayesare@gmail.com
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Friday, April 10, 2009

Economic crisis- get back to basics!

The entire world is reeling under the pressure of slow down and melt down thesis. what causes this economic slide is left for people to wonder without being answered properly. Sometimes you are forced to think if it is thrust upon by the so called advanced nations who are ever eager to dominate and rule the less advanced nations by denying them equal rights to co exist. Remember the times when there were hardly any means of transport or communications and still people were going on with their lives. the wants were limited and happiness was abundant. I recall my childhood days playing foot ball, cricket,kho-kho, kabaddi, gilli danda( a local game). These days it is so difficult to push the youngsters to play out door sports as they are used to the luxury of playing video games in air conditioned comforts! the pressure of studies and acquiring technical qualifications became so compulsive that the modern generation has forgotten what sports is all about? The lure of money prompted the children to abandon their lively childhood and take to assignments that offered them enough money for which they would not mind working even for 18 hours a day! In the name of "Unwinding" they younger generation took to the pub culture and smoking thereby driving a wedge within the households terming them as generation Gap?? The developed nations such as the U S hired our young generation to work for them hard but paid them much more than what the Indian industries would offer but in no way match the salary or pay that they would be paying a local American if they had engaged to do the same job! The younger generation got encouraged to live life of a westerner and burdened himself borrowing loans in order to live a life kings style. Little did the people realise that the principles of Economics say that for every steep rise there will be a steeper downfall and thats what we are witnessing today.
Sometimes, i wonder if all these so called developments are necessary for us to live peacefully? We were living peacefully all these years despite the fact that there were no luxuries available as it is now! The only way to overcome this crisis is to get back to the basics and whats the basics for our country- it is agriculture! after all, man requires something to eat at the beginning and the end of the day!! The glitter of money was too much that most of the agriculturists in India sold their lands to the real estate owners who promise "Moon" to the buyers in features? The fact is that these features hardly contribute to the welfare. The available cultivable lands have shrunk considerably thereby causing a fall in food production which in turn has spiralled the prices. Its time that we realise our potential and measure our steps before embarking on any such projects in the name of development. After all every action has a suitable and opposite reaction is also outlined in Economics! The luxury of development drives in lethargy amongst the younger generations leading to frustrations and other repercussions in Life! Finally, what we must achieve is Peace and this can be infused only if we restrict our wants and feel contended with whatever we have achieved or comes in our way. when there is peace and happiness, life ride is smoother than any of the luxury cars that are available for a price, again!!!

temples should lead in cleanliness & nature conservation

Recently I had the opportunity to visit vaitheeswaran koil, an old Siva temple in Tamilnadu. This is also the sacred or punya sthal where Lord Rama cremated Jatayu when the pakshi rajan was killed fighting with Ravana when he was abducting Sita. The place has assumed great importance and thousands visit the temple from all over the world everyday. one major aspect which hits any pilgrim is the way the temple is maintained. although the affairs of the temple are supervised and looked after by the state government, it lacks cleanliness. The entire floor of the temple is scattered with vermillion, sacred ash, incense sticks with water splashed all around. There is also a ritual of making lamps of out flour and offerring it to god. these lamps are left behind on the floor by the devotees thereby making a mess of the temple floor. The temple tank is green in color which obviously means that the tank is full of moss and other factors which are not good for health if entered into? on the contrary, the temples of Kerala are so well maintained that one feels like going to the temple again and again for tranquill and peace. It is time that some kind of restrictions are put for the pooja vidhi and no one should be allowed to dirty the temple premises citing pooja as a reason. The outer walls of the temple are used by people including pilgrims to answer nature's call resulting in heavy stench. Thus, the entire experience of visiting a temple in Tamilnadu is not so good as compared to visit to a kerala temple, be it anywhere. I have visited the Guruvayoorappan temple in Delhi and found it spic and span. The Tamilnadu government should bring in suitable amends to make temple visits an enjoyable and a memorable one and encourage pilgrims to come again. Planting of trees and distribution of pamphlets to keep the temples clean should be undertaken either by the temple authorities or some NGO in and around the area. sulab toilets be provided for the pilgrims so that the temple walls are saved and sanctity preserved. The tanks in the temples should be cleaned once a year or even more and people should be warned not to pollute the temple or the tank by throwing articles and flowers everywhere thereby making the premises dirty. pilgrims on their part should remember that temples have heritege and history behind and should preserve the same for future generations.