Chennai Roads

2008-09-09T04:49:00.000-07:00

This blog has transformed

This blog began very tentatively, and served as an introduction. It will no longer be updated. But thanks for visiting.

It has inspired, The Media Blog. Do take a look.

2008-06-10T01:35:00.000-07:00

Neel Metal Fanalca workers sell recyclables to private handlers

A video on YouTube shows that Neel Metal Fanalca workers are disposing of the recyclable materials found on the street to private handlers, commonly referred to as "Kailankadais" in Chennai.

Watch the 40 second video here.

2008-05-23T01:32:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of buses in Chennai

As a transport enthusiast, I keep shooting pictures of buses, trains, trams and metros everywhere. Here's a selection taken with a Nokia 3500c in Chennai.

2008-04-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Chennai traveller infomation: How to buy travel passes for MTC buses
I had recently put together a brief presentation on this subject, and here it is.

2007-12-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

Chennai Roads presents roads in Chennai, Bangalore

Here is another visual representation of the urban mess that India is...

2007-12-27T07:28:00.001-08:00

What the inside of a gated community looks like

Here are some photos of a much-publicised gated community site on Mount - Poonamallee Road, near Ayyappanthangal.

We don't know whether the promised Spanish villas have come up yet...

2007-12-24T00:27:00.001-08:00

Jeeva Nagar, Chennai: Using Youtube to expose

The media battle today is centred round eyeballs. Television, the Internet and print newspapers are all competing for reader and viewer attention, to the point of screaming their messages and using a variety of lures to attract an audience.

So how do you get your message across in all this din?

The residents of a residential layout in Chennai's suburbs next to Mangadu and Poonamallee, called Jeeva Nagar, have hit upon the idea of using Youtube to broadcast their own 41 second film on their problems.

Earlier, they used the Right to Information Act, 2005 to get important information from the Mangadu Town Panchayat about the state of their layout and plans for development.

See the short video. The scene is nothing exceptional for Indians, although land here now costs about five million rupees a ground! The Mangadu Town Panchayat apparently does not care, although it expects its pound of flesh whenever a building permission application is filed by a Jeeva Nagar property owner. What is interesting is that this has become a film, titles, credits and all.

2007-12-11T04:53:00.000-08:00

Small stories about people and places

New media can tell many micro stories easily. Anyone with an interest in his surroundings and a small camera phone in hand knows that. Unlike the high power, bloated presence of television, the keen video blogger can achieve a lot more.

Here is the first of a series of videos that tell those small stories about life in India. These stories will be about small and big men. Many of these themes are too familiar to excite Indians. When put in context, they say a lot for a global audience.

This is the scene of Chennaiites returning home under trying circumstances. Pocket-picking gangs proliferate in these packed situations. Hopes are lost, as are fortunes. Governments don't care much.

These people must just pay their taxes and hope that somehow their lot will be transformed one fine day...

2007-11-21T23:39:00.000-08:00

Tanker lorry in hit and run in Chennai: Look out for PY 01 Q 2377

A white tanker lorry involved in a car hit-and-run case escaped in traffic on Kamarajar Salai today, November 22, 2007 around 11.15 a.m.

If you want details, you can mail me.

The hit and run vehicle PY 01 Q 2377 did not cause injuries but damaged a car on the road and escaped. It is possibly involved in some criminal activity. Since the tanker did not heed the signal of road users to stop all along Kamarajar Salai from All India Radio to Napier Bridge, it is most probably involved in some illegal activity.

If you own this vehicle, you should report to Police, if not the insurance company for this tanker should respond. This tanker is not fit for insurance and it is driven by people who do not know driving and are probably not properly licensed.

Members of the public should report the sighting of this tanker to police, urging a proper investigation into its activities.

A call was made to Police on the emergency number 100 today at about 11.25 a.m. but there was no response and the control room did not respond to the call which apparently dropped.

Such vehicles must be refused insurance and pulled off the road, and their rash and negligent drivers arrested for prima facie illegality because they cause economic loss to the country in general and law-abiding individuals in particular.

These drivers make motor vehicle insurance meaningless, because they cause avoidable claims and affect those with unavoidable insurance claims. The operation of nationalised motor vehicle insurance through compalies such as the United India Insurance, National Insurance and others is bankrupted by such drivers, although these companies are partly to blame themselves for not insisting on proper enforcement by the Police and the installation of closed circuit television cameras along roads to fix responsibility.

It is also strange that the Chennai City Police control room did not respond to the call on an emergency number. Even if it was cut off due to call drop, the Police should have used the caller ID and returned the call immediately.

2007-11-09T04:47:00.000-08:00

Mobile phones, accessories and competition in Chennai

The mobile phone industry is growing so fast in Chennai that consumers are getting ripped off in many ways. One of the areas in which they are being bled is high-priced accessories such as spare chargers and hands-free sets.

But I discovered at the Essar and Virgin co-branded The Mobile Store that you can get travel chargers for Rs.99 and hands free sets for Rs. 99 (single ear piece) and Rs.149 for the stereo sets from iBuddy. The audio quality is not bad, and the price is certainly a pittance compared to the avarice that guides the pricing of "originals" from the big names such as Nokia (they want Rs.800 to Rs.1300 for wired handsfree sets).

It is possible that there will be safety questions raised about these products (which would remind us about Hewlett Packard warning us not to refill our printer cartridges and instead fork out a lot more for their "originals").

What about explosions in off-brand mobile spares, some might counter. Frankly, I don't know. The Mobile Store avers that these are safe. Moreover, a hands-free cannot explode, and chargers seem a remote candidate for an explosion because they don't contain any recharging chemistry. But you decide.

2007-09-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

Travelling Wise, in Chennai

Information, they say, is power. It is also money. If you have to travel in Chennai without catastrophic expenditure, you must have the best tips on low cost mobility.

One of those is the "Travel As You Please" passes offered by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, commonly referred to as the MTC.

I have put together a presentation on Google's new online presentation utility, on this. Actually, this kind of travel information should be publicised by the MTC proactively. Because they will not do it (although the National Urban Transport Policy of the UPA Government expects them to do so), I have done my bit.

With some time and effort, it can be expanded and hopefully will help many passengers travel wise. At present, I am only discussing the passes. I will add other aspects in future...

2007-09-07T02:45:00.000-07:00

Free transport to fight climate change

One of the fundamental ideals of any Green is the promotion of universal access to the basic necessities of life. Mobility is one of these, and so it is natural to advocate universal access to free or near-free public transport, paid for by taxes.

Although this would appear to be an extremist viewpoint, one that would win little support from the majority of people, there are indeed many who support it around the world. The latest vote in favour of free public transport comes from the people of Australia, who have participated in a poll on the issue, in the context of climate change.

Lowering greenhouse gases requires reduction in the use of personal vehicles. We need more trains, buses, trams and bicycles. The Greens Party Senator in Australia, Kerry Nettle reports that the majority of Australians are indeed in favour of free public transport funded by tax monies.

London is already using taxes to pay for augmented public transport (if not free) and the Mayor of New York has come to the same realisation. When will our politicians wake up to the reality that improving public transport will improve the climate, reduce road accidents that kill and maim helpless people and lead to a better quality of life for all?

We in India need a carbon tax on private vehicles TODAY!

2007-08-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

MTC responds to RTI Act petition

The usually recalcitrant Metropolitan Transport Organisation of Chennai, the monopoly bus operator has responded to a petition under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) seeking information on its Travel As You Please passes.

Chennairoads believes that one of the simplest solutions to improved commuting and tourist movement in Chennai is to popularise travel cards. These cards should be sold the way SIM cards, recharges and and top ups are being done, for mobile telephones.

That might be a tall ask as of now, because of MTC's 'sarkari' bent of mind. The Corporation exists to provide employment to several thousand people, not for the mobility needs of a six million population, it would appear.

Anyway, here is the link to the information provided by MTC.

2007-08-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

In Chennai, all cars are bumped

You see those nice car ads on television and ultimately decide to take the plunge. You drive off a spanking new, shiny, smooth piece of metal from the automobile dealership, the celebratory tape on the bonnet telling the world that you have decided to make the traffic jam worse by at least one car.

In Chennai, you then realise that your shiny contraption is destined to soon look battered and bruised. Your relatives don't see the point in avoiding driving into the mad whirl of T.Nagar. So you inch along, with autorickshaws that look like noisy garbage cans threatening to test your nerve. Large garbage trucks crowd you out, semi-literate drivers in three-wheeled carriages rush at you...you feel that you and your new car are in a nasty PC game that could be called "Monster Chennai Traffic" or something.

THUMP! Your rear bumber has finally been put to the test. Behind you is either a crazed motorcyclist who wants to drive through you, or an Indicab taxi, or sadly, a very literate stupid middle class moron driving, mostly, a battered piece of junk.

That's what happened to me in my new Alto today. There was this stupid out-of-towner in his white junk-like Maruti 800 (TN 38 F 4955) who just thumped his car into the back of my stationary Alto in front of Chennai's nuclear traffic generator, Saravana Stores, in Panagal Park.

"Sorry," said the culprit. He was so nervous that he quickly sped away.

Luckily, the Alto has been designed for backside hits from middle class morons driving mobile junk. So it showed only a couple of scratches, although the laws of Physics tell me that some of that energy from our moronic friend's Maruti 800 has indeed been transferred to the bolt holding the Alto bumper. It won't hold very well if it is repeatedly targeted by more morons.

But it is not just me in this sort of position.

The next time you are on the road, or better still in a parking lot, look at all the cars and you will find that they all have that bruised look, particularly in the bumpers and on the fenders.

Which is why I believe that many of us should be abandoning the car and taking to the bus and the train. Those who insist on driving should be made to pay extra, so that the money will go towards buying more Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses and suburban and MRTS trains and operating them at sane fares.

Until that happens, we will have only bruised cars, new and old. Don't be fooled by all those girls who feel a little naughty and want to rub some sun tan in an Indica...or by the leather jacketed girl who is overcome by the sexuality of the widebodied Logan. Neither the girls nor those roads exist in real life. On the road with your new car, it is morons that are behind you, ahead of you...all around you.

2007-07-19T01:16:00.000-07:00

Why Dell deals are nothing extraordinary

Computer maker Dell's India executives are bullish about its fortunes, with the impending opening of a manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.

The international outlook for the company now led by its founder Michael Dell is less rosy, and "Dell Continues to Sink" as this blog from the New York Times indicates.

As someone who bought an expensive Vista Home Premium-preloaded Dell desktop recently, I was surprised at the impersonal way in which the company deals with its customers. One must grant Dell a reasonably high level of efficiency in order taking and supply, but after that, the company does not seem to be really concerned about the customer. The salesman from Hewlett Packard called me three times and promised total on-site support, but I declined that order because I thought the Dell way was superior. Wrong.

Dell has overpriced but not cutting-edge hardware, such as graphics cards, on offer. But if you buy your own card, they will not instal it for you. What kind of service is that?

We don't expect any long-term handholding by Dell. But we do expect basic courtesy and customer support. Without that, Dell will sell fewer PCs, despite opening a new plant in Sriperumbudur.

2007-07-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

Mission Impossible : Chennai minus fly swarms

What tropical country can afford to be without its swarms of insects, which make up the famed biodiversity of these Southern nations?

That question would be applicable to the great natural areas of these countries, such as the deciduous and wet evergreen forests but not the maddening urban agglomeations that are called metros in India.

Today's The Hindu has a story on yet another planned onslaught on a rising fly population in the metropolis, which has about 7 million people living in the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA).

The reason for the swarms of house flies invading Chennai neighbourhoods can be found in the proliferating mounds of garbage that are left scattered on the road side. Even in places where privatised garbage collection is found, this is the state of affairs. There is lot of organic matter to which the city population adds its unending supply of spit and phlegm at every turn.

To me, the answer to reducing the fly population lies not in bombarding the streets with poisons that will be absorbed by humans, but by putting organic waste neatly into closed containers, where the flies cannot get at them. But there is no history of the middle class in this metro taking responsibility for its waste. So the flies will have the last laugh.

2007-06-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

Sivaji - Rajni the stylish David fells the ugly Goliath

Rajnikanth makes many points in black and white, although Sivaji is a riotously colourful film. It is difficult to imagine that a theme that is sheer constantly coiled tension between a do-gooder NRI and a hydra-headed, corrupt State can meaningfully convey anything in the midst of constant diversions and distractions, not the least of which is the silken Shriya Saran.

But Sivaji does present his case, and in black and white, without being diluted by any greys in the picture. The most interesting part of the exploration is of course the character of money in India. What is black is only an intermediate stage between two white phases, if it is used to do good. Then again, with no apologies to Fair and Lovely, black is real and recognisably genuine, while white may only be a cover for evil, whether it is Suman's dhoti-shirt in the film or the Tamilised attire of the power elite in everyday life. A black Mercedes may have a symbolism of its own when someone evil is at the wheel - which is not surprising, as it is often an iconic representation of third world decadence, despotism and corruption. Rajni is seen with a silver Mercedes for a while, although the system finally turns him over to a black SUV.

Sivaji is concerned about the evils afflicting the system in this much vaunted largest functioning democracy in the world where the middle class pays donations to put its children in schools and colleges run by crooks in white. Director Shankar is a master of this genre. He trained his ballistic directorial skills at the monstrosity that is government to blow holes into it with Indian and Anniyan. This time, he literally drives a massive knife into the soft underbelly of the sleazy system using Rajnikanth's own patented style. Though he told The Hindu that there is no blood or gore in the film, there is a strong message of positive violence in Sivaji.

It is tempting to look at Sivaji as the first of a series of Rajni films that are bound the way of MGR. In fact, Rajnikant does not lose the opportunity to declare that he "is MGR," although he explains that it stands for M.G.Ravichandran. Never mind, we all get the message.

The big question, of course, is how Shankar pulled off a film which inflates the protagonist, the superstar, to a stature that dwarfs the Establishment and pummels the political class, the police and the bureaucracy into a bruised, injured and cowering state. Alas, to retain that overpowering persona, even 'Sivaji' has to seemingly reincarnate himself in the course of the film, handing a victory to the Establishment however superficial it might be.

If there is a resonance in Rajni's Sivaji, it is on the ascendance of greed in contemporary India and the helplessness of individuals who pose a threat to the corrupt merely by being charitable. Money and muscle, in khaki and out of it, gratefully serve corrupt masters.

The rest of the film, beginning with the grand spectacles that characterise Kollywood as much as Bollywood, are no more than digitally enhanced musicals. A regal day-dreaming hero, a nubile and fluid Shriya, Rajni's style made intelligible to the digiterati by A.R.Rahman's techno-vision and giant masquerades by Thotta Tharani...are these the defining features of Sivaji? Or has MGR just started taking aim at the establishment, hoping to tame the Goliath someday?

2007-06-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

Chennai sways to 'Sivaji'

One of the most hyped films of recent times is AVM's Sivaji, but apparently there is a lot to the film that is different from Kollywood's mega starrers that feature super heroes like Rajnikant.

For one, it is finely tuned to the visual aesthetics of the iPod generation and Shriya is a great light emitting diva (LED), providing tremendous electricity to illuminate Rajni in his new clothes. Hope to watch the film and give some more comments.

The Hindu has a couple of stories on Sivaji's release today and a gallery of images from the film.

2007-05-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

Green perspectives in architecture

Today's Property Plus supplement in The Hindu, Chennai edition, has readable articles on ethical decisions in modern living.

"How frugal are appliances?" That question is posed by Biju Govind, who then follows it up by providing some answers in the form of Bureau of Energy Efficiency tests on electrical appliances.

There is also a delightful article on garden houses in Chennai by Madhavi Desai, exploring the intersection of the bungalow type of building with the European villa style, resulting in a grand structure that nestles in a huge tree-filled garden with tall ceilings and a vivid white exterior.

Is it all too vulgar and elitist? Perhaps, from a historical perspective. In the latter day, can it be varied to provide aesthetic alternatives that include subaltern feelings?

Meanwhile, here is an interesting story on use of solar energy in Seville, Spain narrated by the BBC, and linked to by many architecture websites.

2007-05-24T06:31:00.001-07:00

Chennai's suburban splendour

The real estate market in Chennai has been cooling off a little, after soaring to dizzy heights over the last year.

Some of the evidence for the slowdown is in the higher volume of advertising for upmarket properties in The Hindu's Property Plus supplement. Some of the properties on offer have been advertised now for weeks together, indicating that there may be overpriced supply, if not oversupply.

One of the big ticket builders is ETA Star of Dubai, which has been advertising Jasmine Court at the Poonamallee end of the Mount - Poonamallee Road.

Here is a view of the project being advertised by the promoter:

One of the key things to bear in mind is the absence of sewerage and piped water supply in such suburban havens. There are almost no good schools or colleges in a radius of 5 km, although this property refers to the Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (about 2 km away) as a facility available nearby.

2007-05-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

When Paris Hilton is off the road

"I do not expect to be treated better than anyone else who violated probation. However, my hope is that I will not be treated worse," says Paris Hilton, as quoted by TIME magazine.

What a pity that some countries take their driving norms seriously and send people to jail for driving on a suspended licence during probation.

All that such people need to do is take a flight to India, where people are never ever penalised for the way they drive or cause accidents due to their rash and negligent behaviour. Why driving norms, in this land of holy cows, the holiest cow is the motor car! Next only in importance is the motorised two-wheeler. If you have one, you can violate all rules, starting with red lights.

What a shame that Paris has to wear an orange jumpsuit and spend time in jail, when her daddy has kept a fortune for her. India chalo bhai! Here is where you enjoy life, with S Class Mercedeses, Audis, BMWs, Honda SUVs, Toyota Camrys and many more machines all zipping through shanty towns, on dusty roads lined with open toilets.

And if you are Paris Hilton at the wheel, you can get prime time attention on all our fantastic news television channels that are desperate for celebrity sound bites. If you are caught DUI, you just fork out ten notes to the cop team and they will give you a salute. If you are too drunk to notice people and end up killing someone, just raise your compensation package a little. But never, ever, will you go to jail for such silly reasons.

"East is East and West is West. Never the twain shall meet"

2007-05-09T01:10:00.000-07:00

An incompatible mix? Nokia PC Suite, 6101 and Dell's Dimension E520

I recently installed a Dell Dimension E520 desktop running some really muscular hardware - A dual core processor, 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, A 256 MB Nvidia DDR2 Graphics Card - all powering the new-fangled Microsoft bundled OS, Windows Vista Home Premium (aero interface).

As many of us Vista owners now know, MS has sold a product that is still work in progress. It does not add anything revolutionary to XP functionality but forces you to fork in a lot of money on additional hardware. What is worse, it has huge gaping holes where it should have had drivers for the most common devices that we use with PCs - mobile phones and MP3 players. (Microsoft acknowledges indirectly that there is a problem in this instructional article on its website). The poor compatibility of Vista with iTunes and iPods is universally known. Disappointingly, Vista does not even have drivers to recognise mass storage devices. I found that out when I tried to connect an APRO MP3 player to the new OS and was rejected. I then installed a driver from the manufacturer's website and it has worked so far.

My Nokia 6101 mobile phone experience is a new low point for Vista. I installed the latest version of Nokia's somewhat tacky PC software, PC Suite (v 6.83), which the phone makers says is compatible with Vista 32 and 64 bit editions. Not so.

The OS simply would not recognise the phone, although I had used the same phone successfully with Win XP, connecting with the same CA 42 cable (bought not from Nokia but from third party manufacturer on Chennai's famed Ritchie Street for a tenth of Nokia's rip-off price).

I then uninstalled this 'latest' compatible version of PC Suite and installed an earlier version that is pre-Vista. Voila! The phone was recognised by Vista, but it would not let me copy files from the camera's storage on to my PC. I had to open each file separately and make a copy. No Ctrl C and Ctrl V option available.

What a crummy piece of software to be touted as the world-leading OS! I think this would be a good subject for the next Get-a-Mac advertisement from Apple. And shame on a profit-hungry Nokia for producing such inferior connectivity software that obviously has not had much of an interaction with Microsoft to make it easier for the user.

2007-05-05T02:37:00.000-07:00

Chennai's unapproved plans and multi-crore real estate speculators

These are times when land suddenly appears covered not with the arid dust of the coromandel coast, but the glitter of gold.

Almost every page of The Hindu's Property Plus has giant advertisements promising 'nirvana' to the wealthy, in the form of gated communities and villas that have tranquil pathways that disappear into misty woodland. This idyllic promise further throws in chirping birds that will wake you up, storks and swans magically appearing in azure waterbodies sending you into a dream-like state. (As many are aware, these are all stock photo images of European and other first world countrysides).

What happened to all the slums, the open sewers such as the Cooum, the Buckingham canal, the Adyar, the Mambalam canal, the human excreta on the road, the felled trees, the blistering heat of the concrete cosmos, the autorickshaws without silencers, the careening MTC buses and the insane call taxi drivers, you wonder. Is this a dream or is this a scene from the virtual world of Second Life?

Buyer, beware. This is a paradise on not even high quality paper, but on newsprint. These vistas are like scenes on Microsoft's Windows Vista aero dreamscapes, floating ethereally on your TFT screens, but never tangible.

There are big names in the real estate advertisements - Hiranandani Upscale on Old Mahabalipuram Road (what else can the projects be called but Greenwood and Bridgewood?), Palm, which offers Rs.71 lakh-plus villas in Medavakkam, Puravankara's Purva Swanlake on OMR, and Sai Surya in Pallikaranai, Chennai's chosen spot for chemical and garbage dumping and burning.

It would be wise to see if these big names have a copy of the CMDA-approved plan available at their office, before forking out your saved / borrowed money. There are reports that many builders have their applications waiting in the dark and inscrutable corridors of the "regularisation"-friendly Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority as "negotiations" go on. As we all have seen, the CMDA is an oxymoronic body that has repeatedly dealt devastating blows to Chennai's quality of life through corrupt dealings with property developers and big money interests, example the T.Nagar shopping area.

Why suffer in a property meltdown later? Property buyers are discovering in the US that they were sold houses by unscrupulous builders at inflated rates and they are now unable to repay their loans due to the economic slowdown. They are now suing the developers. But in India, it is the money bags that rule. So why burn your fingers?

Here is an extract from a Wall Street Journal story today on this issue --

As Market Cools, Home Buyers Seek a Way Out
By Michael Corkery and Ruth Simon

In the latest fallout from the housing market's decline, disputes are breaking out between builders and buyers who signed contracts for new homes and condos when the market was hot -- and now want to get out of them.

Even as many of the new buildings are completed, buyers are filing lawsuits claiming they were duped into purchases they couldn't afford, or victimized through fraudulent investment schemes. Some are scrutinizing their contracts looking for loopholes, or searching out tiny flaws in finished homes that might allow them to back out without losing their deposits.

-- So don't fall for claims. Do verify.

2007-04-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

Why Dell is not perfect

Buying a full-featured personal computer from Dell, fully loaded with hardware to run the compulsorily bundled monstrous bloatware called Vista is no guarantee that Michael Dell's company really cares about your system.

I found that out when Dell refused to help with the installation of a graphics processor card on their brand new E520 PC that costs middle class Indians at least as much as two months' pay. Dell's problem is that the card is not sold by it, and so it will not help, not even on payment. Incidentally, Dell does not provide technical support directly in my city, Chennai, but through a competing PC vendor, Wipro. Interestingly, Dell is building a computer assembling plant at Sriperumbudur, a suburban town about 40 km Southwest of Chennai.

If you look at the flip side, the PC can have any number of external gadgets hooked up that have not been bought from Dell. If something goes wrong with the PC in that situation, Dell will probably have to look into it, because they have sold a "complete cover" warranty to me.

So why not help me get the new Nvidia GE Force 7300 GT card made by PNY in place, and earn the goodwill of a customer who has forked out a lot of money for a full warranty and next business day service?

Should we pay Dell to hear why they cannot help us with our computing needs?

2007-02-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

Coke will caution consumers on caffeine in US, but not in foreign markets

We are very aware that US corporates can demonstrate a remarkable disregard for consumer protection outside their home market. Here is Coca Cola announcing that it will put caffeine information on labels of its products in the US, but not abroad.

That is unsurprising, because Coke cannot help itself to local water in the US and has to pay for it, but abroad, it just drills down, extracts water and makes commerce of it.

Here is the official word on it from Coke:

Coca-Cola to put caffeine labels on all US products

Atalanta, Feb 22 (AP) The Coca-Cola Co, the world's
largest beverage maker, said it will put caffeine content
information on the labels of all of its drink products
distributed in the United States that include the ingredient.

The Atlanta-based company yesterday said the plan was
voluntary and part of an industry initiative.

Coca-Cola said it already has included caffeine labelling
on its Full Throttle and Enviga products. It said it will roll
out the new labels on its other brands, starting with cans of
Coca-Cola Classic in May, and expanding to other brands and
packages during the remainder of the year.

The time at which the revised labels reach store shelves
will vary by brand and region as US bottlers use up existing
inventories of packaging, Coca-Cola's North America division
said in a statement.

A spokeswoman said the expanded caffeine labels will
not be placed on Coca-Cola products distributed outside the
United States.

The company said that in 2005 it introduced labelling
that provides consumers with nutrition information for a
standard eight-ounce (226-gram) serving as well as for the
total of a single-serve package.

Coca-Cola also said that it plans to market a new Diet
Coke drink containing vitamins later this year.

The zero-calorie drink, called Diet Coke Plus,
contains niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, magnesium, and zinc. It
is "an innovative product designed to meet the needs of
today's active consumers," said Coca-Cola spokesman Ben
Deutsch. (AP)

2007-02-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

Exxon and its campaign of deceit

To those who watch BBC World regularly in India, the slick advertisements of the monstrously successful oil company Exxon Mobil come across as the reassuring statement of a socially conscious corporate.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, as those who have watched the oil lobby know. In fact, Exxon made a fantastic 40 billion dollars last year through ruinous burning of fossil fuels that have further warmed the world.

Here is a press release issued by those committed to exposing such fraud.

Exxon in Sheep's Clothing

Oil Giant Lies, Evades in Full-Page Ads Across the Country, Group Says

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In full-page
ads today in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, ExxonMobil
rewrites history, omits any pledges of actual change and blurs Exxon's long
opposition to action on global warming, said the Foundation for Taxpayer
and Consumer Rights.
"The ad is an obvious attempt to quiet public anger and prevent
government action," said Judy Dugan, research director of the nonprofit,
nonpartisan FTCR. "Exxon is trying to pretend that it is a now a good
global citizen and deny its decades-long dispute of global warming."
FTCR's examination of the ad found:
-- Rewriting history: The ad brags that "for 15 years, our scientists
have been participating directly in the preparation of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports." (The IPCC is the
respected UN body that recently raised new alarms over the "very likely"
human causes of global warming in an extensive report.)
The reality is that ExxonMobil secretly sought -- and got -- help from
the Bush White House in a 2002 attempt to oust the head of the IPPC, Dr.
Robert Watson, and other key scientists on the panel. Exxon memos obtained
by the National Resources Defense Council showed that Exxon's aim was to
replace respected scientists with, as the NRDC put it, "contrarians known
for disagreeing with the prevailing consensus that man-made pollution is
causing global warming."
Read the Exxon memo at: http://www.nrdc.org/media/docs/020403.pdf
-- Verbal acrobatics: Exxon never uses the phrase "global warming,"
which sounds dangerous, substituting "climate change," which could be a
good thing. It uses statistics that minimize what warming is, including
"The earth's climate has warmed about 0.7% in the last century." That seems
slow, of course. There's no mention that the 10 hottest years on record
have occurred since 1990.
-- Omissions: The ad contains no pledge to develop, much less market,
renewable fuels. That's because Exxon doesn't, and won't.
At a March 14, 2006 Senate hearing, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York
pressed Tillerson on Exxon's puny spending, less that one one-hundredth of
one percent of its 2005 profits, on alternative energy research.
Tillerson's response:
MR. TILLERSON: "Well, Senator, I think your question is are we
investing heavily in alternatives and ... --
SEN. SCHUMER: You're not.
MR. TILLERSON: We're not. We are investing in technology, and we are
investing heavily in conventional oil and natural gas, which is the
business we are in. We are not in those other businesses.
(Read the transcript at
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/energy/rp/6137.pdf )
-- False choices: The ad concludes that the task of business and
government, working together, is "selecting policies that balance economic
growth and human development with the risks of climate change." In other
words, global warming can't be remedied without trashing economic
development.
That's the opposite of the truth, even from a hardheaded economic
perspective.
The global insurance giant Swiss Re warned in a 2005 report that
"Climate change will significantly affect the health of humans and
ecosystems and these impacts will have economic consequences."
"We found that impacts of climate change are likely to lead to
ramifications that overlap in several areas including our health, our
economy and the natural systems on which we depend," said Dr. Paul Epstein,
the study's lead author and associate director of the Center for Health and
the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. "Analysis of the
potential ripple effects stemming from an unstable climate shows the need
for more sustainable practices to safeguard and insure a healthy future."
Read the story at
http://www.livescience.com/environment/051101_insurance_warming.html

Contact: Judy Dugan, +1-310-392-0522, ext. 305, or cell +1-213 280-0175

SOURCE The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

2007-02-14T06:14:00.000-08:00

After Ford, its Coke and Chrysler

We heard about the record breaking loss suffered by Ford Motor Company in 2006, which is not such a surprise given the state of the oil-addicted world unable to find a cheap fix.

Now it is the turn of another purveyor of well-packaged junk, Coca Cola. This symbol of poor health and water theft around the world has reported a drop in earnings and an erosion in its share price.

This is the report from Bloomberg: Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest soft-drink maker, said fourth-quarter profit fell less than analysts anticipated on increased demand for soda in China and Russia and healthier beverages such as bottled water in Mexico.

Net income declined 22 percent to $678 million, or 29 cents a share after its largest bottler wrote down the value of its North American unit, the Atlanta-based company said today in a statement. Excluding that, Coca-Cola earned 52 cents, topping analysts' estimates by 2 cents.

We must beware the designs of this water raider because it has said its rise in volumes is coming from markets outside the United States. In most of these markets, such as India, Coke simply sucks up groundwater in poorly supervised surroundings and pursues an aggressive advertising campaign using local film stars to sell its stuff.

Even more interesting is the report that Daimler Chrysler is looking for a buyer for its ailing acquisition, the Chrysler division. This American carmaker is to shed some 13,000 jobs, of which 11,000 are part-time workers. Shifts will be cut down in some plants and a profit now looks possible only in 2008. No one knows what the world will look like in that year, as the atmosphere is pumped with more greenhouse gases each minute, steaming up the climate.

If you are also addicted to oil, the end of the good life is nigh.

2007-02-14T01:42:00.000-08:00

Lalu Prasad boosts railway fortunes, but in-laws try free tripping

Lalu Prasad has now secured the only endorsement that matters in New Delhi on his running of the gargantuan Indian railway network: Sonia Gandhi has said he is doing fine.

Here is the PTI report on it:

Sonia praises Lalu for "new style" to improve Railways

Rae Bareli (UP), Feb 14. (PTI): UPA chairperson and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday joined the chorus of praise for Railway Minister Lalu Prasad saying he has introduced "new style" to improve the functioning of the Railways.

"Prasad has introduced a new style to improve the Railways functioning. For this everybody is praising him," she said after laying the foundation stone of a Rail Coach factory in her Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli in the presence of Prasad and his two deputies - Naranbhai Rathwa and R Velu.

Referring to the UPA Government, Gandhi said she was happy to say that ever since the party-led coalition came to power at the Centre, a new era of economic development has started, which would bring positive changes in the lifestyle of common people across the country.

As far as the Rail Coach Factory here is concerned, the Congress chief said that Railway Minister Prasad is a man of firm commitment and she was fully confident that this project would be fructified soon and provides jobs to youths.

"Lalu Prasad is firm on his words. Whatever he promises, he does it. That is why I hope that this factory will be ready soon and start working and will provide employment to youth here," she said.

Asserting that people gets name for his works, she said similarly, a Government is also remembered for his work.

"I am satisfied that our UPA Government at the Centre was proving to be a Government that works", she said.

But Lalu's in-laws are not really co-operating, it appears. They were caught without proper tickets but to their credit, they did not provide fodder for the media and quickly paid the fines, continuing their journey. The mainstream media is apparently too embarrassed that the in-laws of the illustrious Lalu were caught without proper ticket and so leading newspapers down south have only a single column item in their inside pages.

This is The Hindu's report of the incident from staffer K.Balchand.

Of course, one must conclude with the observation that Lalu Prasad is hopelessly ignorant of how his Railway system is faring in Chennai. To belabour the point to the insensitive Railway bureaucracy, the MRTS system is a ghost line even today because Lalu and his somnolent deputy Velu have no idea what is going on. Perhaps when Lalu has some time left after his MBA lectures, he can visit Chennai and take a ride on the MRTS.

In some stations, if he walks in after dark, he is likely to fall into the ditches and traps that have been left uncovered by the Southern Railway administration, currently headed by General Manager Thomas Varghese.

2007-02-13T22:38:00.000-08:00

The China fallacy

As the only more populous country on the planet than their own, China holds great fascination for Indians. Not everyone may agree that China followed the best course of development since opening up its economy to foreign capital, but to many Indian political leaders and their supporters, that nation could do no wrong.

The ruinous effect of an intensive, polluting and industrial development philosophy on China's environment is well documented by international journals, including those with strong socialist leanings such as The Guardian of UK.

Now comes another critique of China's false development from another Leftist intellectual, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

Professor Sen told a Chennai audience at the Voluntary Health Services on February 10, that life expectancy at birth had dramatically improved in the period before the country launched its economic liberalisation programme. After that, the rate of growth had actually reduced.

To quote Professor Sen, "I referred earlier to the extraordinary fact that China managed to achieve astonishing progress in general health and longevity before the economic reforms in 1979 -- a period in which economic growth was in fact rather moderate in comparison with what happened after the reforms. And yet afte the economic reforms, which ushered in a period of sustained growth and super rapid economic expansion in China, unprecedented in the whole world, the progress in life expectancy actually slowed down dramatically."

"To some extent this can be expected since by 1979 China already had quite a high life expectancy at birth, around 68 years, and certainly further expansion becomes more and more difficult as the absolute level of longevity becomes high. But the fact is that China's life expectancy is still relatively moderate in comparison with many other societies in which the progress of longevity expansion has continued to occur at a very high rate."

It is of course natural that Professor Sen spoke about the long catching up that India has to do, even to get to where China is, and not much importance need be attached to the average increase in longevity in India, which has been three times as fast as in China since 1979. He also referred to the earlier commitment that China had shown to public health (something which has been sorely missing in the Indian context despite the visionary policies recommended by Sir Joseph Bhore in 1946).

Significantly, Professor Sen refers to Kerala as forging ahead of China in the area of health, and achieving a four or five year advantage in life expentancy over China since 1979. It is higher than every province of China (with the obvious exception of urban conglomerates such as Beijing and Shanghai).

Let us remember that Kerala has been one of the exceptional states in the Indian Union with the natural blessing of a verdant, unpolluted, tropical climate. Much of the State except for the Palakkad Pass is skirted by the Western Ghats Mountains and is therefore favoured by nature with plentiful rainfall and vegetation. Is it possible that Kerala's protected natural environment, unsullied by intensive manufacturing-based development is partly responsible for its better health indicators? The literate, health-conscious and politically aware citizenry is of course responsible for the positive outcomes overall.

2007-02-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

No MRTS on weekends

It would have been the kind of interesting "view from the sky" ride that one normally pays heavily for in a theme park. From Chintadripet, in the centre of Chennai, to Adyar (Thiruvanmiyur) in the Southeast on the elevated MRTS.

I wanted to ride the MRTS to listen to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on the subject of "Health and the Society." It would have been a dream to go on the elevated train to the Adyar point just opposite the venue, which was Voluntary Health Services.

Sadly, Dr. Sen's lecture was on a Saturday and for some strange reason, the Mass Rapid Transit System of Chennai does not operate between Thirumayilai (Mylapore) and Thiruvanmiyur during the weekends. What a shame.

Ultimately, I carpooled with a colleague, and a friend joined us. The only achievement we could speak of was the use of one car instead of three.

If the folks at the Indian Railways Fan Club do read this, can they campaign for the unsung MRTS, please?

I imagine that if the Railways were less greedy and more sensible, they would price their MRTS at two rupees flat for a ride, and run trains every five minutes, potentially packed to capacity.

Too bad the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is getting so much attention for good performance without really doing anything about this train system and the "stiff upper lip" Southern Railway bureaucracy could not care less.

2007-02-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

Sold on the Sun

As a seeker of the Sun, that unimaginably powerful nuclear reactor that sustains all life on earth, I believe that the answer to our energy demands comes from the sky.

I found this neat commercial on Youtube, which has a cinematic feel and conveys a vital message in under two minutes with a slick feel to it.

Indians can be among the biggest beneficiaries of solar photovoltaic and thermal power and it is encouraging that the first signs of recognition are there in the area of business. Moserbaer is developing its solar pv unit and if they will distribute their panels and devices adopting the same concept as the VCDs and DVDs, we can all buy panels without burning holes in our pocket.

Here goes the video:

2007-02-07T03:42:00.000-08:00

Judgment Day for Wal Mart and some Indian echoes

Everyone knew that the darling of the consuming class in the US, Wal Mart would get its just come-uppance sooner than later for its anti-labour practices.

A US court has allowed female employees to sue it for discrimination. This class action suit, the US media says, is the biggest of its kind in that country's legal history.

Look at the irony of the situation. Wal Mart manages millions of items every hour sourced from around the world in its unquenchable thirst for profits, but it said it could not manage the claims of all its female employees!

The Los Angeles Times website reports that the court made this observation to Wal Mart's claim: "The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Wal-Mart's claim that a class of more than 1.5 million employees — all of Wal-Mart's women workers since 1998 — would be unmanageable."

At home (here in India) Sonia Gandhi has suddenly developed jitters about the Wal Mart - Bharti retailing venture and asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to go over its possible impact on small traders closely. Media reports say she is worried that it might displace small retailers with terrible social consequences. I beg to ask, how is it different from the Reliance retailing venture, which is similar in scope and scale?

Incidentally, Reliance retail with the brand Reliance Fresh is an environmental disaster for India. How, you ask. More on that soon...

2007-02-02T01:24:00.000-08:00

Acid drinking teens

Attempted suicides using cleaning acid. There are many youths who try it but according to a calculation made by the Government Royapettah Hospital, only one in 200 succeeds.

The others slide down a tunnel of dark misery that few are even aware of. The GRH meeting of Jan 26 has been captured in video and hosted as a full-length streaming programme by kumudam.com

I think it should be shown in all schools, colleges and slums which represent places with high concentrations of vulnerable people. Possibly the government will do that.

2007-01-31T02:50:00.000-08:00

Burning up the future: the climate crisis

This Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is all set to release a massive document detailing the climate crisis that we have unleashed on ourselves, and which is likely to ruin the future of generations to come.

It is of course a pity that India and China, two of the most populous and ambitious countries on the planet today are contributing actively to accelerate the pace at which such disaster will overtake the earth.

Both countries have huge populations that are now discovering prosperity levels that were unknown a century ago. Their newly affluent citizens are being actively wooed by the global automotive industry to sell cheap, low-performing, gas guzzling and unsafe cars and two-wheelers.

Strangely, the Communist parties in India have also got the wrong end of the stick and are calling for reduction in petroleum prices, as a panacea to the problems affecting mobility. This is a warped argument, although there seems to be a hidden agenda to support Indian capitalists who are riding the boom in the automotive sector. It is completely topsy-turvy because mass mobility can never be achieved through personal transportation, and the Communists are seen harping on individual mobility and freedom, which is a conservative, Right-wing approach to the issue, far removed from the traditional precincts of the Left.

The wheel seems to be turning full circle in the land of profligate consumption: America.

Look at what one of their conservative journals has said now, as the world prepares to hear the bad news from the UN.

(From a blog on The Huffington Post)

Even in the conservative American Spectator today, William Tucker made serious mention of some of the causes of this impending catastrophe (probably written before the UN news made the wire). Among a lot of analysis of the president's energy plan, Tucker acknowledged the following:

"In 1976 we burned 500 million tons of coal a year. Today we burn more than a billion. There are 90 more coal plants being built right now. The Department of Energy points out that -- because of various loopholes in the law -- 80 per cent of these plants still use the same old-fashioned dirty technology."
And...

"A carbon tax would truly drive Americans toward conserving gasoline. Everybody agrees it's wasteful to be splurging on SUVs and Hummers, but people will do it as long as gas is $2 a gallon. The real danger is that we're going to start running up against world supply limits, particularly if China and India go car-happy. As long as we've got the carbon excuse, why not start easing into a situation of scarcity with some kind of carbon levy?"

What is happening to the world? Right is Left and Left is Right!
More on this when the UN report is out.

2007-01-29T04:04:00.000-08:00

Disappointing suburban CMDA layouts

Despite all the hype about life in the suburbs among sylvan surroundings, lakes, birds and bees, the reality can be very different.

This is what the owners and residents of Jeeva Nagar, a layout not far from the Sri Ramachandran Medical College and Research Institute in Kattupakkam - Mangadu have found.

They have been petitioning the Kancheepuram District Collector and the Mangadu Panchayat, about the abysmal state of civic facilities in their low-lying plots, which become inaccessible at the first hint of rain.

Here is their letter published in The Hindu
today.

Just to make it easier, the text is also reproduced here:

Civic works in Jeeva Nagar

The residents of Jeeva Nagar, a CMDA-approved layout in Kattupakkam just off the fast developing Mount-Poonamallee Road (PPD LO No. 134/2003 and Survey Nos. 558/2B2, 559/2, 561/2 and 562 of Mangadu Village) are awaiting civic works to be undertaken, to overcome problems of severe monsoon flooding, lack of basic roads and street lighting.

The Mangadu Panchayat, which has jurisdiction over the layout, has said that it is considering these development works, and tenders are being processed, which is a commendable step.

We would like to point out that optimal utilisation of the allocation can take place only if the road level in the layout is raised through addition of debris (which is readily available from nearby encroachment demolition work carried out by official agencies in December 2006). This would bring the Jeeva Nagar ground level on par with adjoining Badrimedu ward and AUDCO Nagar.

During 2005 and 2006, Jeeva Nagar remained inaccessible for nearly four months because of flooding, release of sewage from adjacent wards, lack of roads and total darkness at dusk. As a result, house-building activity came to a halt and the panchayat suffered revenue loss.

While thanking the Kancheepuram District Collector and the Mangadu Panchayat for their initiative, we appeal that they make the best use of funds by ensuring at least four feet road height, and provision for laying of drinking water pipelines along all interior streets.

S. Ramkumar,

President

Jeeva Nagar Owner's And Residents Welfare Association

Kattupakkam.

These residents also maintain a blog to highlight their issues and have put up a slideshow on the post-monsoon situation.

2007-01-26T01:09:00.000-08:00

Royapettah Hospital: They attempted suicide with cleaning acid...

Republic Day 2007 was celebrated by a group of patients who survived a suicide attempt (they tried to kill themselves by drinking concentrated cleaning acid) at the Government Royapettah Hospital in Chennai.

There were patients from Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madurai and other places. Some have recovered sufficiently after surgery by Dr. S.M.Chandramohan and his team, to be able to eat routinely. Normally, the upper gut is rendered useless after consuming acid and it is impossible for these patients to eat normally. Surgery has worked a miracle for them.

Some of them spoke out on their experiences and rued their moment of weakness when they tried to commit suicide with acid. Now, their families are left with the searing pain of caring for someone who has been severely crippled; in the worst cases, people who cannot eat and must be fed with some nutrients directly into the system.

Dr. Chandramohan paid glowing tribute to all medical teams who had assisted in making the hospital's work a big success. Certificates were distributed to the departments of anaesthesiology, oncology, pathology, medical gastroenterology, intensive care, orthopaedics, ENT, nursing, radiology and others.

The Health Secretary Mr. V.K.Subburaj was there, and so was the Director of Medical Education (in-charge). There was some talk of expanding GRH, and putting up new buildings. For the thousands of people who depend on this suburban hospital that is located in a congested part of the city, good facilities will not come a day too early.

But then, they live in a country that is increasingly veering away from the ideal of free, universal healthcare access with high quality standards...

2007-01-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

Expect Ford to step on the gas in India

Ford, the iconic American car company that symbolised consumer utopia by mass manufacturing vehicles for the common man early in the 20th century has hit another massive speed breaker with a fourth quarter loss of 5.8 billion dollars and an annual loss of 12.7 billion dollars for 2006 (reports Reuters).

This is, according to the agency, the worst year in the 103-year history of the company. Last year, heavy job cuts sounded the alarm that Ford is running out of fuel (as the auto industry generally is bound to be in the developed world).

The question that should interest us Indians is the response from loss-ridden international automakers to the emerging scenario of global warming, costlier fuel and supply lines that are linked to the vagaries of geopolitics and the general unsustainability of motorisation in the developing world, of which China and India are the prime examples.

It is fairly certain that the losing carmakers will compete more aggressively in the developing markets; price cuts, cheaper (and unsafe) models, petrol/diesel guzzlers, higher emission engines and a tacit campaign against public transport are all being witnessed even today; we will see more of it.

The positive feature is that the frenzy of car sales has a GLOBAL climate impact, which is likely to send more Katrinas hammering the US coastline, as much as the typhoons in South East Asia and the seemingly unending monsoon downpour in Mumbai, all of these being very lethal weather phenomena.

If Indians are concerned about the future of the planet, and, that of their children, they should persuade the Manmohan-Chidambaram-Ahluwalia caucus against encouraging fuel-guzzlers from hitting Indian roads, whether they are from loss-ridden Ford, Chevrolet, Skoda, Hyundai, Suzuki, Toyota, Mercedes, Tata...

We need cheaper, modern buses that are rolled out on Indian roads by the tens of thousands each month. Why, if cars can be imported and sold (to supplement domestic manufacture), why not buses? And trains? and trams?

If the automakers are going to try to press the pedal further, we may have nowhere to run for cover.

Let us remember what Andre Gorz said long ago. It is simply impossible for everyone to want to buy a part of the beach, because that would give each person a few inches of beachfront; that cannot be used by the owner in any practical way. Ditto for the car. If all of us had a car each, none of us would be able to use them!

2007-01-25T01:50:00.000-08:00

New autorickshaw rates in Chennai

Two items of great interest to the middle class that are in today's papers are a cut in roaming tariffs for mobile phones, and the impending introduction of newly regulated fares for autorickshaws in Chennai (from January 26).

There is of course a great deal of cynicism among the city residents that this is another attempt at window dressing by authorities who are not serious about regulating the autorickshaw sector.

The Hindu today carries a report giving all the numbers which will take down complaints against illegal demands made by autorickshaw drivers.

The mobile roaming tariffs are more likely to get implemented, although one is never sure how the cellcos are cheating customers on billing.

2007-01-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

Who cheated whom? The Global Trust Bank scam

I have been a victim of the arbitrary and completely opaque takeover of the Global Trust Bank by the Oriental Bank of Commerce, under the directions of the Finance Ministry and the RBI.

As a long-standing depositor who lost Rs. 16,000 in two five-year term deposits, I believe both the RBI and Mr. P.Chidambaram, our extremely suave and highly educated but entirely unsuitable, arrogant and unethical Minister have a lot to answer for. What we need is an honest and communicative Minister in this job, not someone who thinks 99 per cent of Indians don't deserve an answer to questions about their money, which he appropriates to various accounts everyday. You don't need a Harvard education to do that. Many semi-literates are doing that everyday in different walks of life.

I would like to know, for instance, how it was decided that the contractual obligations of GTB with depositors will not be transferred to OBC, when it was assuming all its assets and liabilities. We have no idea what assets GTB possessed, particularly real estate. Mr. Chidambaram has not told us that. We are simply told that all rates and charges will apply on OBC terms from the date of takeover.

Meanwhile, I found this post raising some questions about the GTB-OBC forced marriage.

2007-01-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

Advertising medical cures and public health

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has said it for the third time in a year and half that he proposes to amend the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954 with the aim of banning advertisements about treatment processes.

It is a matter of wonder why he is unable to implement what he said in 2005, though a full year has passed. He said it again in 2006, and now he has said it again in 2007. What is so pressing about advertisements, that is not about a host of other ills that are sapping the health of the average Indian?

We are living with air pollution beyond imagination (India has 5 of the world's most polluted cities, the World Bank says, and New Delhi is still the most polluted in the WHOLE WORLD). Why is Dr. Ramadoss happy to live in Delhi with such polluted air, but feels so strongly about advertisements, which are of course completely unethical and I hold no brief for the greedy corporate dispensers of health.

Water is another sadly neglected area which is yet to catch the concerned gaze of our Union and State Governments and Dr. Ramadoss. Only people who can buy bottled water are safe in India. Why not do something about municipal water supplies, so that people can drink safe water. After all, that is a much more fundamental driver of public health than getting a few tertiary hospitals to stop advertising? You can actually stop sending people to hospitals looking for cures!

Are these things not important because our political worthies see no 'returns' from such national scale actions?

2007-01-22T01:52:00.000-08:00

A break in the forests

What a feeling it is to be away from the swirling madness that is urban India! Away from the IT and technoparks, the discussions on gated communities, the land grab mafias and the worst specimens of Homo sapiens...

Just got back after a fantastic four days during pongal at Nagarahole National Park, which is not far from Mysore. It is closest to the small town of Hunsur.

I had the unique experience of observing the brilliant faunal diversity of the land in the company of Dr. K. Ullas Karanth, the renowned wildlife biologist of the Wildlife Conservation Society who specialises in scientific study of tigers, and the very talented film-maker Shekar Dattatri.

A piece on the whole question of studying tigers, the ecological concerns and the future of conservation is to appear in The Hindu soon... Also look out for pictures from the trip!

Meanwhile, I spotted this post on conservation from a fellow blogger.

2007-01-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

"Muni" invites Chennai audience to be part of film

Here is a still from the audio release of "Muni" held against the backdrop of a giant statue created for the film in suburban Nandambakkam.

Many look forward to the venture because Rajkiran is in it. It is interesting that the statue, the kind of which is (or rather was) a common sight in the Tamil countryside as Ayyanar, features prominently in this film.

Saran and a host of others were there at the audio release, where the filmmakers also offered lunch to those who came.

2007-01-12T06:26:00.000-08:00

Thirumazhisai in Chennai to have NRI city

I learn that tomorrow's The Hindu Property Plus will have a big advertisement for a gated community in Thirumazhisai, a suburb off Poonamallee and Sriperumbudur.

Apparently, this town which is famous for Thirumazhisai "Alwar" and many temples of antiquity, has been chosen because it is proximal to the emerging automotive and IT hardware belt.

The second advertisement is for Alliance Bougainvillea, about which I have posted several times.

2007-01-11T23:27:00.000-08:00

New draft of Second Master Plan for Chennai

Srivathsan reports in The Hindu today that the Tamil Nadu Government has asked for a fresh draft of the Second Master Plan for Chennai, which has been stillborn and kept in governmental formaldehyde now many years.

It is of course significant that much of the planning input that went into the earlier Second Master Plan draft was based on the situation before the IT/ITES and retailing boom. These sectors are now expanding with unprecedented speed in Chennai, along with the automotive sector, with serious consequences for real estate prices, traffic, pollution, water availability and quality and overall quality of life (in short, going the Bangalore way).

It is also useful that Srivathsan reminds everyone about the expanding physical area and the population of Chennai -- 306 villages in 10 panchayats, 28 town panchayats, eight municipalities and a cantonment, stretching over 1,177 square kilometres. Phew! For those who are new to the city, Chennai has only rudimentary sewerage and piped water supply and most local governments listed above have next to no sewerage and grossly inadequate water sources. But many are now hosting Spanish villas and English gardens!

Srivathsan's report on the plan for a Chennai Metro rail is also informative.

If you want to see more of a planned gated community, watch this slideshow:

2007-01-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Chennai's autorickshaw fares hiked, but will it fly?

Today, The Hindu's news update service reported the following:

Autorickshaw fare hiked in Tamil Nadu
Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: The State Government has hiked the minimum autorickshaw fares from Rs. 7 to Rs. 14 for the first two kilometres. For every subsequent kilometre, the fare has been increased from Rs. 3.50 to Rs. 6 . The new rates will come into effect from January 26.

The government has fixed a waiting charge of 40 paise for every 5 minutes. For trips between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., the commuters will be charged 25 per cent more than the revised rates. Autorickshaw owners must replace mechanical meters with electronic ones within six months and upgrade existing electronic meters within 45 days.

The government will help owners get financial assistance worth Rs. 2,000 from banks for effecting the change.

To register complaints, contact 103, 044-26445511, 044-26444445,044-26445959 or sms 98418 08123.

The question to ask is, can the Government make it work this time?

Also, why isn't the same government intervening through the market: by operating more buses to meet the real demand and making suburban train services, MRTS and rail stations more attractive for new users?

2007-01-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

Amid blogosphere noise, a tribute to Laurie Baker

It is sometimes difficult to find something that is not self-obsessed, inflated and ego-driven prattle in the blogosphere. Most bloggers are so full of themselves that unless you have a prurient interest in the person behind the online persona, you end up getting bored.

But here is a heartwarmingly personal post that surfaced in a google search on Laurie Baker that was refreshing for its sincere tone and its commitment to a truly extraordinary resident of India.

The few responses that it has prompted are equally sincere. Wish there were more of these...

Meanwhile, Gautam Bhatia's book on Baker is rated with five stars on Amazon.com. I found it in Landmark (Apex Plaza) in Chennai.

For more on Laurie Baker's legacy, visit this site.

2007-01-09T23:37:00.000-08:00

Mixed motifs of Spain, England and Pallava country in Chennai

Apparently, there is something alluring about Spanish villas. We have seen Alliance Bougainvillea announcing its project near Poonamallee recently. XS Real Estate also has Villa Espana in Velachery "overlooking the Guindy National Park" (which is what should make the development really attractive).

English gardens are similarly attractive, it seems. Both Alliance and XS are talking about English gardens (though they are silent about the hot, humid and dirty exterior) on their properties in Chennai, in Bougainvillea - Poonamallee and Chesterfields - Ramapuram.

XS also talks of some Pallava motifs in its "apartment bungalows."

It beats me why property developers are completely obsessed with Spain for the Sun and England for gardens. The irony strikes me because we have always had sunny skies. Moreover, in England, the local population years for more Sun and actually describes bright days as an "Indian summer!"

To property developers we are hopelessly smitted by Western architectural and cultural influences (though they do have some things of value even to us in our climate, such as Bay windows).

I am hoping for the day that some builder announces projects that pay tribute to Nature, and makes the best use of sunlight, rainwater and air, in the manner that Laurie Baker advocated.

2007-01-09T00:22:00.000-08:00

Saran asks, are you a 'Muni'?

It is a good time to be a Muni. That is what those who have names beginning with or containing Muni must be thinking. Whether it is Muni, Munusamy, Muniyandi, Nathamuni or Muniappan, you are invited by Saran to Nandambakkam's Burma Colony, where his mega production that is titled Muni will be releasing the audio on January 10.

The bonus is not just having a biriyani if you love meat, but a photo op with Rajkiran and others. Also get a cassette for takeaway.

The piece de-resistance will of course be the shooting of a song titled "Varanda Muni" between 3 and 5 p.m.

"Thousands of Munis are expected," says Saran in his invitation, in which he thanks the fans for supporting him from the time of Aaru. "It has given me a good exposure in the movie industry," he says, on the eve of the audio release by Gemini Productions Pvt Ltd starting at 2 p.m., preceded by the lunch. Incidentally, the meaty lunch is a dominant aspect of the film and all its publicity.

If you are finding it difficult to locate the 40 feet statue of Muneeswarar at Burma Colony, Defence Grounds, Nandambakkam near the Mount-Poonamallee Road where the action will take place, call film PRO Nikil.

2007-01-08T01:49:00.000-08:00

What does CMDA-approved in Chennai mean?

Apparently, getting a CMDA-approved plot does not add up to much. That is the lesson that one learns from Jeeva Nagar, a suburban layout promoted by a company called BLB Estates of T.Nagar.

The residents of this layout near Kattupakkam and Poonamallee that was approved in 2003 are at their wits' end because the promoter, the CMDA, and the local government represented by Mangadu Town Panchayat are not ready to help. Most of the properties are underwater even two full months after the Northeast monsoon came to an end.

The property owners who have paid all dues to the CMDA for the layout permission have petitioned the Kancheepuram District Collectorate too, without any concrete response.

Of course, building activity is going on all around the layout and the Alliance Bougainvillea project is just 2 km away. A Maruti dealership is all set to open next door with room for scores of cars, while Manipal Automobiles, a Tata dealership is already open 1 km away. DLF is building an IT Park 4 km down the same road.

But watch the slideshow put up by the property owners of Jeeva Nagar:

Jeeva Nagar

2007-01-05T02:42:00.000-08:00

More from Professor Stiglitz in Chennai

As part of his talk, Professor Stiglitz emphasised his suggestion that one alternative to patents could be the institution of a Medical Prize Fund (see his editorial in the British Medical Journal).

His belief is that such a prize will spur innovation in much needed areas such as malaria, which is a disease affecting developing countries and for which big pharma companies will not devote research budgets.

Other points:

The concept of limited liability is being used to avoid cleaning up the environmental mess after it is no longer profitable to pursue a particular industrial process -- a familiar example is mining.

With the strong evidence available on global warming, there should now be a move to tax emissions in the developed world. The Kyoto protocol, which the US has pulled out of and which does not impose any obligations on developing countries, has reached an impasse.

Importantly, there is no enforcement mechanism in the present situation for climate change agreements, unlike the Montreal protocols on CFCs where trade sanctions were included. The Montreal protocol is perceived to have worked.

India's response to globalization should be to address the growing inequalities. There must be ways to cushion the losers. "Use some of the gains to ensure that there are fewer losers."

Manage globalization on your own terms, reject dogmas. In the case of the roles of Market and Government, in some areas, the State has to take a larger role even as it retreats from others.

Capital market liberalisation is going to be risk without reward. The argument that you cannot get capital without liberalisation is false. China has got it. FDI provides capital which has long term stakes, unlike speculative flows that only seek immediate gains.

In the area of drugs, intellectual property may impose high costs without the benefits. The acceptance of IP must always be a trade-off between the inefficiencies of having patents with the gains that it would bring. But in the case of drugs, you could have high costs, without the benefit. The Uruguay Round of talks resulted in compulsory licensing provisions, but that is not being taken full advantage of.

That is because, if you do, the US will put pressure on you on other things. Thailand has faced the pressure on HIV/AIDS drugs. Brazil is also facing similar pressure. But India and Brazil are strong countries that can resist this.

2007-01-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

Joseph Stiglitz's lecture in Chennai

Professor Joseph Stiglitz's lecture on "Making Globalization Work," delivered under the auspices of The Hindu, dwelt on the opportunity before India to structure its participation in the globalization process according to its terms, rather than on the terms of profiteering international capitalists.

The tone of the Nobel laureate's talk was a mix of informed persuasiveness and experienced caution.

Here are some highlights, which should be familiar to those who have read his recent book on which the lecture topic was framed:

Number of people in poverty in Africa has doubled in the last 25 years.

China and India have benefited out of globalization, but Africa has neither the education resources or market resources to take advantage of the opportunity.

There is a gross assymmetry between the way capital and labour have been liberalised. There is lot of interest in liberalising flow of capital, but not labour. Consider a scenario where capital was frozen, but labour could flow freely. That would mean we would be a lot more concerned about improving our environment and education systems to a degree that would help leverage such an opportunity.

The impact of patents under TRIPS is likely to be severe on prices of drugs in developing countries, as also in the more developed ones. HIV/AIDS is the most visible example, where advanced drug formulations are going to cost about 17,000 dollars against 10,000 dollars for branded first generation drugs and even 200 dollars for generics.

Generally, the TRIPs agreement is bad for science, US science and international science.

Capital market liberalisation is unlikely to create economic growth in developing countries. It will only lead to more instability.

Globalization is being used as a pretext in many countries to roll back social protections. We have not learnt how to temper globalization. To make it work, we must change the international rules that govern the process of globalization. Secondly, we must be able to manage the changes arising from globalization.

When the 2001 development round of trade talks was held, the US and Europe reneged on their promises. The US doubled its agro subsidies.

The problem with TRIPs is that it imposes a single intellectual property regime on all countries. All countries are asked to pay similar prices despite their different development status.

More points to follow....

2007-01-03T02:27:00.000-08:00

Online sales and gullible Chennaiites

There is so much hype about the retail sector that the big stores are apparently finding it easy to take consumers for a ride in Chennai.

Many blogs and newspapers are gushing about the opening of big-ticket stores like Pantaloon Retail's Big Bazaar in Chennai. I decided to check out their website, and went on to their "futurebazaar" e-commerce site.

Here is one item that's on the site:

Kingston 512MB Pen Drive
MRP Rs. 1999 Offer Rs. 726

It must come as a rude shock to those who fall for the "lowest prices everyday" sales pitch, that a 1 GB Kingston Pen Drive with smart software from u3.com is available on Ritchie Street, Chintadripet (off Anna Salai) for about Rs.900!

So much for our retailing and e-commerce hype.

2007-01-02T04:51:00.000-08:00

Chennai: potholed paradise

On New Year's eve, many of the Hyundai Accents received by Chennai Police gratis from the Korean carmaker were at their screaming best. They were zipping along in some places, their lights flashing and sirens wailing or standing with metallic efficiency at other locations (what they achieved is not clear, though).

In 2007, Chennai is no different from what it was a year ago, when there were no freebie Hyundais for "patrolling." After the Northeast Monsoon and with a faceless Mayor at Ripon Building (M. Subramaniam, heard of him?), the metro's roads are a long trail of potholes.

Apparently, the somnolent occupants of the Corporation headquarters have decided to allocate money for road repairs, but the Zonal Officers (Assistant Commissioners) are in no hurry to do basic repair work to fill up the potholes. So in most places, you simply bump along and pay the automobile mechanic more.

This sort of indifference contrasts with the hype generated by globizens about the way this hypermetro is making waves. There are colourful advertisements in newspapers claiming to offer "English" gardens with "Spanish" villas in their midst, tall glass and steel marvels housing BPOs who are linked to international capitals. You only have to spend a fiver on the Mass Rapid Transit System that travels the length of the Cooum and Buckhingham Canal, which are nothing but open sewers, to see what a travesty of truth Chennapatnam is!

The enormous amounts of waste generated by the villa types gets carted to shanties lining these canals, where some of it is segregated for onward sale for crude recycling. The rest is simply dumped on the riverside. The waste plastic and white board dumped summarily in this fashion provides some weak relief to the black sewage-marked banks of the watercourses, while the shanties appear in the background, rusty reminders that there is a city that is invisible to the chatterati and which the media has stopped talking about because it is no longer fashionable to do so.

2006-12-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

Showing Chennai like it is, from the MRTS

If you run a search for Chennai on YouTube or Google Video, you see some very basic videos of what this pattanam is famous for.

The crazy way Chennai remains mobile strikes me. There are some foreigners who have put in footage shot from cyclerickshaws and autorickshaws. Others have endangered their lives to shoot scenes of the "pride of Chennai," the 3 km long IT corridor, from the pillion of two wheelers.

I think the future lies with trains and buses, and the only rudimentary video of the city's elevated urban rail that I could locate on YouTube is by someone who goes by the name of Abhiramia:

Here it is

Though the video presents a very familiar perspective for the Chennaiite, to the visitor, it shows the often decrepit state of housing, the profilerating squalor and the generally dirty appearance of the city. Most of it is in Mylapore in the video. Catch a few glimpses of British-era buildings at Chepauk. The seemingly beautiful river is devoid of most river life species because it contains only sewage, fed in by the ever helpful Chennai Metrowater agency that is supposed to treat the city's sewage.

2006-12-27T23:33:00.000-08:00

Lalu, Harvard, Wharton, IIMs...

Union Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's contribution to the so-called turning around of the Indian Railways is now the subject of study by two business schools, Harvard and Wharton.

There are few materials available on record to show that Mr. Yadav has implemented any special management measures that have led to a profitable spell for the railways.

By most accounts, the Minister has been wise enough to leave the running of the gargantuan railway system to the somewhat reclusive set of professionals who make up the Indian Railway Technical Service and the Indian Railway Accounts Service.

As I have been repeatedly pointing out, Mr. Yadav and his less prominent deputy in the Ministry, Mr. Velu have done little for the Mass Rapid Transit System in Chennai. The picture shows it all. There is a lot of real estate in the MRTS stations, such as Chintadripet here. But it is completely wasted because the only occupants of the neglected building are some transport contractors and parcel agents for bus operators.

On most days, the approach to the station is dark, the entrance obscured from view by a proliferation of bushes and storm drains without covers that people fall into.

Not the kind of rail transit system that someone from Harvard or Wharton would imagine Mr. Yadav is running at a profit, or come to think of it, even at a loss.

2006-12-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

Metro railway for Chennai

At long last, it appears (just appears) that Chennai is moving ahead with a Metro rail project.

Here is A.Srivathsan's report in The Hindu on it.

If the DMK government is intelligent (which is unlikely in its present avatar) it will built a solid metro for the city and stake its claim to have revolutionised mobility in Chennai. The first step of involving the DMRC is positive, but the future course is hazy at present.

Srivathsan makes the important point that the MRTS in Chennai in a sort of stupor because the State Government sees no stake in it, and a similar attitude to the metro rail, bus and suburban rail options in the future will create another dysfunctional system. So far, the State Government has not shown any interest to go beyond its atrophied bus monopoly, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

Sadly, the two dravidian parties and the palsied Congress in Tamil Nadu cannot bring themselves to think beyond the immediate future and the filthy lucre that they can make from deals. The other parties, including those professing green credentials, only give the impression that they are perpetrating an elaborate hoax on the State.

There are others also who think that cheaper cars are not the answer to Chennai's mobility problem, metros and buses are. Here is a blog post that reflects this view.

2006-12-26T23:29:00.000-08:00

Hit and run and Chennai's 'helpless' police?

Today's report in The Hindu gives the impression that there is little that the Chennai City Traffic Police can do to record evidence about motorists who cause accidents due to sheer arrogance.

The explanation of the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) is on shaky ground for the following reasons:

Technology is available to record evidence on the road in the form of CCTV systems, and one such system has indeed been put up at Spencer's Junction, Anna Salai. If it is not working, the police have only themselves to blame.

The Chennai Police now have 100 more vehicles at their disposal, thanks to the largesse from Hyundai Motor (though this donation, in my view, is unacceptable and totally unethical due to conflict of interest questions). So what is the Police using these vehicles for? Note my earlier posts about fatal accidents early in the morning because no policemen are present and commercial and transport department vehicle drivers couldn't care less about traffic signals.

The Police in Chennai and elsewhere is forever trying to convince the public that it is helpless and unable to perform in a civilised manner because others are not helping it to. In my view, it should stop whining and get down to work.

Tailpiece: It is an amusing thing that the Tamil Nadu government is an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Information Technology. The Government's website puts out a news item from the New Indian Express that claims Chennai City Traffic Police to have launched a website to tackle what is officially termed "traffic chaos." There is a hyperlink in the report to this site: www.cctp.org. Click on it and you get a surprise! It goes to some domain salesman, rather than any useful page from the Police. No wonder the hit-and-run drivers are laughing at the vulgarly muscular and uncouth CCTP.

2006-12-26T05:36:00.000-08:00

ECR: Road to hell

Like many other new highways of "global" standards that are snaking across India to cater to the newly affluent and motorised classes, the East Coast Road connecting Chennai to Cuddalore is a monstrosity.

Unlike the developed world, where the onslaught of motorisation and road building has largely spared people from the risk of direct collision with vehicles, India's highways, many of them aided by international financiers like the World Bank, are built only for vehicles.

Too bad that they are planted onto landscapes where people have been living for generations. These roads rip through such communities without the courtesy of even a subway or overpass, for people to cross to the other side. There are also no exits from the highway, no detours to spare the villages.

Little surprise that an estimated 65 people died on ECR during 2006.

There is this nice video on youtube that provides a glimpse to the anarchy that characterises neoliberal India's tolled "superhighways". Note the two-wheeler riders and cyclists travelling on the wrong side, practically coming into the speeding vehicles, the ramshackle commercial and housing structures that exist close to the carriageway, the occasional three-wheeled autorickshaws that transport those who cannot afford the high cost of motorisation and the complete indifference of the vehicular traffic to people's safety.

Of course, the best on youtube on the state of India's road traffic is here

2006-12-26T03:54:00.000-08:00

New platform ticket vending machines at Chennai Central

At the best of times, Chennai Central is a beehive of activity, to some a functional anarchy of teeming thousands who throng a stately building that is familiar to generations. It takes little imagination to realise that the major part of the passenger handling areas of this premier railway terminal were created during colonial rule (just as the British put in more rail tracks to expand their own interests than free India's leaders have been able to, to pursue theirs).

Two new things strike you at Chennai Central.

There are a couple of sleek-looking platform ticket vending machines of foreign manufacture on the portico in the entrance. Neither is functional as yet, and I doubt if they will be around for long. It is of course, debatable whether you need German-built machines when you have many people who can find gainful employment (remember that machines need to be refilled with tickets and change, which requires people, though fewer than to operate separate counters).

Then there is a bright green kiosk on the bus bay outside Chennai Central now. This belongs to that somnolent bureaucracy, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation that runs the city bus service. The objective is to dispense daily, weekly and monthly season tickets. On a weekday afternoon, I came across this kiosk, nicely and cosily shut. I learn that the passes and tickets are only available in the first fortnight of the month. It is a pity that MTC cannot use modern technology and a matching attitude for its operations: Its buses are ramshackle and dangerously old, dirty, unwashed and polluting. Its crews are surly, rude, abusive and unabashedly homophobic. Its bureaucracy is faceless, arrogant even in its obscurity and closed to reform. Above all, it is unredeemingly corrupt.

2006-12-23T00:20:00.000-08:00

Spanish living through a Chennai lens

Is there something inherently wrong about the way Indians have lived for four millennia? Apparently, there is nothing much to draw from a long history of civilisation in habitat or architectural terms, if you go by the rash of advertising in the Property Plus supplement of The Hindu.

The advertisers promise locales and lifestyles that are far removed from India's civilisational history.

Today's edition of PP has an advertisement explaining the Spanish vision of the Alliance Group, which is promoting villas with a hispanic flavour in suburban Porur (watch a video of this Spanish vision on the promoter's website). Each of these villas will cost Rs.65 lakhs to Rs. two crores and they are truly international in such dollar-converted prices. It is also interesting that this new prestige address will combine English gardens with Spanish villas, an esoteric mix that is expected to tickle the sensibilities of largely the newly rich Indian catapulted to prosperity by globalisation and liberalisation.

But be warned that these villas with their imaginary flamenco dancers, toreadors and Englishmen walking terriers on lawns are here on Indian terra firma. The gated denizens of Porur have no access to good sanitation for their area. Sanitation and health are issues that the English settled in the 19th century before they developed a vision of urbanisation.

The Alliances, DLFs and other carpetbaggers must focus first on fundamentals and learn from India's own civilisational record, on sanitation, community spaces, health and welfare before rolling out their fictional landscapes.

The more realistic picture is available from a neighbouring CMDA approved layout called Jeeva Nagar, which you can find here.

2006-12-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

So many crores for everyone except the poor Chennai pedestrian

Today's newspapers carry the story of the Tamil Nadu Government cutting sharply the money that cinema theatres can collect from patrons all over the State, from January 1, 2007.

The day's stories also include a major plan to revamp urban infrastructure in the Chennai suburbs and Madurai region, involving astronomical sums of money.

Sometime ago, Minister K N Nehru had stated to the media that the State had sought a huge sum to improve transport infrastructure in Chennai -- Rs.1,300 crores to be exact, under the JNNURM.

In all of these announcements, the poor pedestrian of the city gets next to nothing. Take the United Progressive Alliance government's Common Minimum Programme, JNNURM or National Urban Transport Policy and one finds a great deal of discussion on pedestrian facilities. But when it comes to forking out the big bucks, the man (and woman and child) on the street is nowhere!

2006-12-13T01:20:00.000-08:00

Lalu Prasad Yadav wants to raise Railway Profits

A correction to a report in The Hindu published today says Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav wants to raise the profits of the Railways by a few thousand crores.

The Reader's Editor says, "A sentence in "Garib Rath may run from all State capitals: Lalu" (December 11, 2006) was: "Mr. [Lalu] Prasad said his target was to increase the railway profit from Rs. 13.5 crore to Rs. 20 crore in the next fiscal." It should have been Rs. 13,500 crore to Rs. 20,000 crore."

My own contention is that Mr.Yadav has to only galvanize the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Chennai, which is sitting on several hundred crores worth of property in this metro.

If the stations on this line are put to good use, they are sure to generate significant levels of revenue.

The picture here shows what could have been well-patronised shops in one of the MRTS stations (Chintadripet). Their sorry state shows that Southern Railway has little idea of how to improve its revenues.

2006-12-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

London is the place to be on New Year's eve!

Here's what London is offering everyone in the city on New Year's eve. Can our shortsighted politicians and bureaucrats imagine a situation like this in Chennai? If you get my point, I am talking about the distance yet to be travelled to have a decent transport service in Chennai that was Madras, India.

"Passengers throughout the Capital will be able to travel for free on these services during the prime festive hours, for journeys starting between 11.45pm and 4.30am.

In addition, the Mayor is funding free travel on selected National Rail services between midnight and 5am, particularly in areas with fewer Tube connections."

As you can see, the idea is that you don't have to drink and drive. Don't kill yourself and don't kill others.

2006-12-11T06:13:00.000-08:00

Harvard economist Greg Mankiw talks about walking

In his blog post today, Harvard economist and popular blogger Greg Mankiw advises students to walk, in the face of some evidence published by the NY Times that bicycle helmets may put you at risk.

But how easy is it to walk in faraway Chennai?

Take a look at the picture below for the answer. It was taken in Chintadripet, Chennai, on the perimeter of the Napier or May Day Park.

What you see is a power cable running across a footpath (or sidewalk, as in the US) that is the size of a ribbon. This power cable is good enough to fry you to a crisp, if it leaks at any point, and remember that these are rainy days in Chennai, India.

Despite intensive research on Chennai's public health (including an ongoing study by the Harvard School of Public Health), this is the state of affairs in general. In Chennai, everything is fraught with risks. Including your car, as the incident involving three men in a Hyundai Santro proved on October 28.

2006-12-11T00:22:00.000-08:00

Chennai, the World Bank and footpaths

I have always maintained, even in my email exchanges with the World Bank's India office that its money has been used to defeat the objectives of sensible and civilised urbanisation.

Here are some scenes that show that all the talk of modernising Chennai is only about commerce. A truly modern and civilised city must cater first to its people. But Chennai is focussed on automobiles -- a decadent, Americanised and people-unfriendly model that is actively aided by the commerce-building strategies of the World Bank and its cohorts.

The scene below shows that the Chennai authorities, municipal, metropolitan development and police are all very tolerant towards encroachment of public space. The devotion to unlawfully exploiting footpaths is being condoned at the risk of the pedestrian losing life or limb.

2006-12-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

See who is polluting Chennai's air

This is the official record of vehicular emissions in Chennai, from the Central Road Research Institute, in 2003.

If this does not make people in this metro anxious, no one can save them.

2006-12-05T05:24:00.000-08:00

When it rains...

Here is an image from one of India's most ambitious metros, showing how helpless people are when it rains.

Bear in mind that property prices in Chennai are at unprecedented highs, and in this area, which is Circular Road, Kodambakkam, the current rate is about Rs.4,000 per square foot.

2006-11-30T08:04:00.000-08:00

Chennai Corporation's 'mud'dled clean-ups

In April 2006, The Hindu reported that the Chennai Corporation is supposed to remove the silt deposited during clean-up operations by Metrowater immediately from the site.

People in Chennai have discovered these past few weeks that the Corporation is not willing to clear its own silt removed from the storm drains, not to speak of the filth deposited along the shrinking city sidewalks by Metrowater. That is something pedestrians have to live with even in the 21st century. As I have come to believe, Chennai's managers want only able-bodied, young, fully sighted, intrepid and rich men to use the vehicle-choked roads and broken down, trap-like sidewalks. There is no place for women, children, old, sick and disabled people here!

Today, The Hindu carried a photo of the indifference of the Corporation, on G.N.Chetty Road, T.Nagar. The story is the same in Zone Eight of the Corporation, in Kodambakkam (from Brindavan Street to Rajnikant's Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam). Incidentally, this road is used by blind people to reach a hostel located near the Kalyana Mandapam.

2006-11-10T03:04:00.000-08:00

Chintadripet : Far from profitable for MRTS

So many people are breathless about Lalu Prasad Yadav speaking at the IIM about his stewardship of the Indian Railways and the profits it has shown.

If only Mr. Yadav would visit the Chennai MRTS line (locally referred to as the "flying train" because it is elevated along most of its alignment) to see how badly the Southern Railway is doing. It does not help Mr. Yadav that his junior colleague from the purportedly environment-loving PMK party, Mr. Velu is from Tamil Nadu.

One look at this station entrance at Chintadripet is enough to communicate how badly things are going for the MRTS and its commuters.

The ongoing monsoon has witnessed rainwater lashing the station entrance, close to the ticketing booth. Dogs seeking shelter have become regular inside the circulating area, and they don't hesitate to leave something behind, which there is no one to clean up.

There is no lighting inside the station other than in the concourse (circulating area), so you must approach the core of the station in pitch darkness. And here is the worst part: there are huge holes in the ground, into which you might fall and break a bone! Recently, I witnessed one man with his shin all bloody after falling into a drain pit that has no cover, near the in gate.

This is such a pity because the MRTS has built expensive stations that have tens of thousands of square feet of built up space, which can very well earn the Railways revenue. If not, they could be turned into park and ride lots, as originally planned. They could also be a combination of both. A few of the shop areas are today occupied by the cargo wings of bus operators. These are barely active at night, and only the workers loading materials are found here. Hardly the picture of a bustling commuter train station.

For a contrast, see this picture of the Westminster station opposite the British Houses of Parliament, that I took on a visit in mid-October this year.

The MRTS is among the best examples of how Indian bureaucracy badly manages potentially profitable assets, even in an otherwise professionally-run technical service like the Railways.

Despite the high rental rates in the Central district of Chennai, these MRTS stations appear desolate and deserted. Most areas earmarked for commercial activity are empty. They are ghostly in appearance, dark, dank, dysfunctional and economically ruinous for the system. The rides are overpriced, especially in comparison with the bus. There is no integration with the city bus system, run by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation of the State Government. Even the condition set by the Central Government in India demanding that the States set up a transit management authority that will monitor integration of bus and rail has failed to evoke any response.

The irony is all the greater because India is among the countries that is contributing heavily to global warming and climate change. If it has successful rail systems, it will help the world cool down. It would also help many people in Chennai breathe easier and travel ethically.

2006-11-10T01:57:00.000-08:00

'Barefoot' cops and airconditioned Hyundai patrol cars

That Chennai is a city with funny priorities is well known.

We have heard about the gifting of 100 air conditioned patrol cars by Hyundai Motor Company, and today comes the report that it will spread its 'goodwill' to other cities in Tamil Nadu.

But I would like to present to the world the classic face of the Chennai policeman, seen in this image. This scene at the junction of United India Colony Fourth Main Road and Arcot Road epitomises the kind of policeman that this squalid metropolis can boast of.

What is the point of adding to the car fleet of such a poorly motivated, unimpressive, unprofessional, technology-illiterate and corrupt force ? What we need is policing with a more professional approach, better evidence gathering mechanisms to prevent corrupt elements cooking up facts and records.

The boom in the economy has only raised the incidence of bribe-taking, with little impact on the ramshackle, broken down road infrastructure, the lack of environmental support systems such as drains and canals, all of which have eroded the quality of life in Chennai. Of what use is 8 pc GDP growth when it means so little for the public?

2006-11-07T01:01:00.000-08:00

'CO poisoning': Chennai's "Coffin" Hyundai Santro 'being analysed'

Today's report in The Hindu states that the Hyundai Santro which killed three people on G.N.Chetty Road, T.Nagar is being analysed by experts to determine what had led to the fatal situation.

This report strangely makes almost no mention of the alleged failure of the locking mechanism, which is thought to have prevented the occupants of the car from either opening the windows or doors.

Meanwhile, many bloggers who have been gushing about the most modern Accent model patrol cars available with Chennai police courtesy Hyundai, will be disappointed to note that the City Police is yet to announce a protocol for their use.

For those who have little or no knowledge of how police in India work, it should be instructive to know that there is no effective quick response mechanism to distress.
Like 911 in the US, one must dial 100. Contrary to the perception that the control room has all the information about the caller based on the location from which he has dialled,(the caller might be suffering a heart attack or be in an accident or become victim of crime and need not be coherent), Indian emergency services will require a full report before they decide to act.

It is not surprising therefore that many victims or patients prefer to take the closest available transport option and rush to a hospital. In the case of crime, calling the police without adequate preparation (with monetary support, in most cases) may result in the victim being questioned and harassed.

So where do the Hyundai Accent patrol cars fit into all this? We must wait for the Police Commissioner to enlighten us.

Here are some more people who are breathless about the donation of 100 cars to Chennai police: Logesh Tamilselvan and Teakada who also quotes someone as saying that police will respond in three minutes to any emergency. Sorry teakada, my maths is not so good, but how can 100 cars cater to a population of approximately 5 million and reach all emergency spots in three minutes?

Even if you add all the vehicles now with the police (not over 1,000 for Chennai in any case), that still provides a ratio of one car for 5,000 people. I suppose one must call them and cry blue murder only when one actually happens! For all other requirements, call Apollo Hospitals?

I saw one of these new-fangled patrol cars the other day on Anna Salai, blaring the siren behind parked vehicles and then extracting some money for wrong parking. Nobody is defending wrong parking, but is this the three minute emergency that people are talking about?

2006-11-02T22:35:00.000-08:00

Hyundai's Santro deaths episode

After last Saturday's disaster involving a Hyundai Santro car in which three people died, the media has been slowly piecing the story together.

Initially, the car brand did not surface in many reports. On Thursday, however, The Hindu reported the follow-up to the incident mentioning Santro clearly.

Today, The Hindu has a report that a Hyundai Santro caught fire in a residential area due to some electrical problems. At least the mainstream media is now acting more ethically and mentioning the car brand, rather than leave readers to guess which car was involved.

As a corporate entity with a major share of the Indian automobile market, Hyundai would have enhanced its credibility if it has responded to the issue and transparently acknowledged the problem, if there was one. That it has not, and it has confined itself to offering free cars to the enforcement authority in Chennai, the City Police speaks rather poorly of its ethics.

2006-10-30T23:49:00.000-08:00

Hyundai cars as coffins - in a rain, a Santro can kill you!

Hello,I am back after a short visit to the UK, and as you can imagine, with a lot of new perspectives on why Chennai has among the worst roads anywhere.

Of course, the 'top' issue being discussed about Chennai's roads is the death of three people in a Hyundai Santro car during the intense rain that hit the city on Saturday (October 28) night.

It did not help any of the lakhs of motorists (or pedestrians) on that dark and rainy night that the police in chennai had 100 new cars donated by the same company whose Santro turned into a coffin for three people.

So why do people in Santro cars caught in heavy rain end up suffocating to death? Read the Times of India's report on the incident in Chennai here.

A search on the Internet reveals that the Chennai incident was not the first. It happened almost in identical fashion -- in a Santro -- in Mumbai in 2005.

Today's The Hindu has a report on how this sort of thing apparently happens. But the report does not deal with the impact of the jamming of the central locking on those who were trapped. What role did this play in causing the deaths?

This question is important because Hyundai has a duty to explain to its tens of thousands of customers, what it did after the Mumbai deaths, to determine the cause of the technical problem. Did Hyundai fix the problem in subsequent production of Santro? Why has it not ordered a recall of all Santros fitted with similar locks to assess whether they need to be changed or repaired?

Okay, even if this is too much to ask in a third world country with a significant number of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and policemen, why has not Hyundai advertised an emergency number for its car owners, which will provide help if they are stranded?

And what is the Government in this Detroit of India doing for the vast number of people who have purchased cars?

Why is the Automobile Association of Southern India not coming up with some kind of response to such a tragedy?

2006-10-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Maddox and India's autorickshaw

The ubiquitous three-wheeled autorickshaw generally runs riot on India's urban and semi-urban landscape. This poorly-engineered ramshackle contraption which serves a small purpose as a feeder transport in most places has again shot to global fame as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's runabout in Pune.

See the picture of Brad Pitt looking out of an autorickshaw here.

Many will remember the crazy scenes from the James Bond film Octopussy in which Vijay Amritraj drives an autorickshaw (specially engineered for the venture) like a bat out of hell ferrying Roger Moore.

A rather longish treatment of autorickshaws is available here on Wikipedia.

On Chennai Roads, though, the story of autorickshaws is not so much fun. Many passengers lose their limbs, some die and others suffer minor injuries each day, as the yellow three-wheelers race along city roads. All passengers are fleeced by market forces because there are not enough buses and trains for passengers.

2006-10-07T00:59:00.000-07:00

Wrong Idea

Surf blogs a bit to see what there is about Chennai, and you come across something like this. Someone has suggested the banning of autorickshaws in Chennai because they are a traffic nuisance.

This is exactly the sentiment that has driven Chennai's traffic insane. People imagine that if we sell more cars and two-wheelers (which you would have to completely depend on if autorickshaws were off the scene) the road scenario will get better! Nothing can be farther from the truth. The sensible thing to do would be to ensure that autorickshaws operate safely and abide by the law, and to increase the number of buses.

Fellow blogger Vasudevan Deepak Kumar is totally out of depth here.

2006-10-07T00:28:00.000-07:00

A law unto themselves

Let me begin this post by saying that I am completely in favour of buses. They hold the key to making our lives sustainable and they reduce our dependence on costly personal ways to get around town.

But what I find completely unacceptable is the manner in which the buses are driven in India. As someone who has lived in this country for four decades and more, I am familiar with the ways of our people. The bigger guy gets the right of way. The little guy who uses the road does not have a voice. He represents only the fare, if he chooses to use the bus. The question of buses existing for mobility of people is forgotten.

That is the kind of arrogance that one comes across in Chennai. Look at the Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus blocking off the pedestrian corssing in this scene at Periyar Bridge intersection on Anna Salai. There are at least three policemen here on duty all the time. Not one would care to even question such bus drivers. Finally, when government-run buses don't care for the law, will others feel compelled to? You can also see the faded zebra crossing lines in this picture.

2006-10-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

Chennai : An early morning scene

The first hour in the morning (around 6 am) is generally fraught with danger on the city roads. Today, I found that a lorry carrying bottled water had crashed into a street lamp near the Udhayam Theatre in Ashok Nagar. The area was strewn with glass and plastic, and the mangled lamp post blocked part of the road. I wonder whether the driver was drunk or sleepy?

Further towards Kodambakkam, I took a picture of the road intersection just outside the Ashok Nagar police station. As you can see, there is no police presence and great caution is necessary in crossing the road. The fading "zebra crossing" markings are of little help, and the traffic signal, even less. It is extremely dangerous to imagine that motorists will obey rules at such intersections. Whether they are government buses, tourist taxis or private cars, most don't care about the traffic lights. So watch out!

2006-10-07T00:09:00.000-07:00

Fatal tracks

Safety is not one of the strongpoints of people in the Indian subcontinent. How else can one explain the unconcern about a large number of people dying in avoidable circumstances on railway tracks?

The general public view is that the railway stations in India have facilities that are hostile to pedestrians, and hence it is acceptable to take risks -- such as crossing over on tracks, rather than use an overbridge.

One cannot quarrel with the view of the commuters on the nature of facilities, but the risks can sometimes be too extreme. Today's The Hindu carries the report of three people getting killed in the suburbs, trying to cross the railway track.

2006-09-29T05:03:00.000-07:00

Chennai Traffic Police and Roads: Why do Indians never learn?

Just a few days ago, I wrote about the death at dawn of an unknown motorcyclist at the junction of Inner Ring Road (Jawaharlal Nehru Salai) and Ashok Nagar Police Station Road.

I had called up the police control room and complained about the lack of supervision at 6 in the morning, when motorists are possibly at their worst behaviour.

Today, I was again passing through the same roads and found that traffic lights at the following junctions were simply ignored by the motorists:

Ashok Nagar Police Station - Ashok Pillar Road

Inner Ring Road - Ashok Nagar Police Station Road

Inner Ring Road - Jawahar Vidyalaya point

Trucks, omnibuses and Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses threatened to run over people and ram into vehicles that took care to follow the lights, precisely at the same point where just a few days ago, one man had died.

I have been asking the following simple question to anyone willing to listen in the police establishment: if you have no intention to enforce the traffic signals, why do you switch them on early in the morning in the first place?

Don't the Police realise that it is better to tell motorists to "negotiate" carefully, rather than ask them to obey traffic lights? Otherwise, rogue drivers will not bother to stop at red lights and, as they have done in many instances, ram into you from behind?

It is horrifying that the average citizen is at the mercy of a system that is both completely non-functional and, for the most part, hopelessly corrupt.

2006-09-26T02:42:00.000-07:00

YouTube videos on Indian roads

I just saw that Paul Barter has excellent links to videos about traffic in South Asia and India in particular, on his blog.

It is worth looking at the impact of automobile dependence and absolutely, totally ignorant policymaking in India. Great stuff for those who may be visiting India. This is something that adds nicely to Google Earth. You know that when you land in those places shown in the maps, this is the terror that awaits you!

2006-09-26T01:55:00.001-07:00

No "glocal" city

Chennai, like many other Indian cities, is going global. I am provoked to provide this cliched view of a city (that has had a rather long international association from the days of the somewhat disreputable Robert Clive) because there is now a visible post-independence population of "foreigners" here, all of whom have to literally breathe the local air, join the powerless pedestrians, use the roads, weave past obstacles and generally avoid being run over.

There are many who have to put up only with item number one. That is the air. Everything else one can buy in a "cleaned up" form.

This is something of an irony for the Hyundais, the Mitsubishis, the Fords, the Suzukis, the Fiats, Mercedes, BMW, Audi (and any other automobile company that will come to India), because they are all eagerly setting up automobile plants. These companies achieve the depressingly negative outcome of adding to global warming and reducing, ironically, the level of mobility in the city by crowding out cyclists and buses, while promoting gridlock.

To that list of course, one must add the local manufacturers of cars (Tatas...) and motorised scooters and bikes a few hundred of which hit the city roads everyday.

On Monday, I just missed taking a picture of a group of people of African origin being escorted across the road by an autorickshaw driver. It was a funny scene. The auto man had his hand raised in a gesture of helpless pleading as the flock of ageing visitors followed him. Everyone was nervous in the group. Not without reason, because motorists are usually impatient on the somewhat wide road with the red lights. Pedestrian crossings are usually ignored and there are no major subways available for several kilometres (between LIC and, say, Safire). This scene at the Spencer's Junction on Anna Salai (the famous Mount Road of yore) is, incidentally, supposed to be monitored by police closed circuit satellite television! Take it from me, it is money down the drain. The system does not work.

This is just my point. This city of flashy cars and discotheques is hopelessly barbaric when it comes to the roads. Yet, few businesses that set up here appear concerned about their impacts on the already deteriorating quality of life. I am not asking for their understanding. I am demanding that they realise social responsibility. I am not also xenophobic. It is just that we have a lot of problems from ignorant, unregulated, corrupt, unaccountable and completely greedy domestic businesses. We don't need further input of irresponsible capital powered by the deliberately weak state of the rupee and the seemingly insatiable appetite of Indian consumers to add to the chaos.

2006-09-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

Interesting perspective

Fellow resident Scott Carney has a blog with a post on the state of chennai traffic, which I find has some interesting views. He is off the mark when it comes to some facts, starting with how much traffic police make (legally). Gone are the days when traffic policemen were paid less than a thousand rupees a month. Anyway, here is his take on some of the madness. Scott Carney Online

2006-09-23T23:25:00.000-07:00

A Death

On Saturday morning, what I had feared for long ultimately happened. At the junction of the chaotic Inner Ring Road and 11th avenue Ashok Nagar (leading from the local police station), a man lay dead.

He was a two-wheeler rider, one more added to the statistics of vulnerable road users who could not survive India's rapid slide into automobilisation and vehicle dependence. His body lay on the road, with policemen who had appeared in strength after the accident (road rules are not otherwise enforced on this busy road that caters to all of the traffic including thousands of buses and often trucks going from south to north).

Paul Barter, the sustainable transport campaigner and researcher whom I have met in Kuala Lumpur used to say that if you know the cause of something, it is not an accident any longer.

We know what killed the motorcyclist on Saturday morning. It was a combination of ignorance, indifference, lack of enforcement and finally, the rising tide of automobilisation in India.

The response of authority was revealing. A policeman on the scene was irritated with my questions. I asked, "Of what use is it for you all to be present after someone is dead?"

"The fellow was in the wrong....(expletive deleted)"

The Hindu, the most respected newspaper in the city did not report this accident (though its City Editor was informed about it).

Then again, for an idea of the kind of police that manages India, look at this image. The policeman is no better than the person to his left, standing in the fading zebra lines earmarked for the pedestrian!

We stupid Indians...we will follow rules in Dubai, in Singapore, in the US and in London. Right here, where we live, where our kith and kin are exposed to danger on the road everyday, we are a hopelessly indisciplined lot. Is it any wonder that at least 80,000 of us will die in 2007 in road crashes and millions of us will nurse injuries sustained on the road?

2006-09-19T02:33:00.000-07:00

Lalu Prasad and the Railway

This is an image change that qualifies for serious study. In the popular imagination, often embellished by media images, Lalu Prasad the politician is often laughed at for his "rustic" persona. Now Railway Minister Lalu has gone to the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad to talk about the turnaround of the Indian Railway.

If commanders hold the key to the victories of armies, Lalu must certainly be commended for the book profits that the Railways have shown in the past year. It is of course, another matter that the Indian Railway -- even with an impressive record of moving millions -- is far from perfect. I have carried several pictures in the other posts on this.

But without pessimism or cynicism, let us hope that Lalu will preside over an administration that will professionalise and modernise the railways and attract more people to undertake train travel. That he will provide the ageing and antiquated suburban railway stations of Chennai with escalators, lifts, clean entrances, eating places, ticketing booths, park and ride centres, information systems on train shedules, routes and system maps.

Lalu's speech in Parliament on the Railways, during the budget presentation is worth reading, in the light of the kudos he is now receiving. It is found here.

2006-08-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

Music on the move

It is no exaggeration that a ride on a train in this country will provide an interesting glimpse of the diversity of its social life.

On a suburban train, one can see those who have been generally failed by the Indian welfare system, starting with blind people trying to sell cheap plasticky stuff to earn a living, fruit vendors, mendicants, street performers and vagabonds.

I saw this girl with a slightly older boy and a woman, presumably all from the same family, performing minor contortionist tricks on the train. The boy and girl danced briefly to the beating of a drum by the woman, then wriggled through tight metal rings, before seeking alms from the passengers. After their first act, the children were fascinated by the sight of another train moving in the same direction on the adjacent track, its horn loudly blaring. They smiled at each other and momentarily suspended their circus.

To the credit of most people, they parted with at least 50 paise, and I was quite sure that if this troupe could carry on with its act regularly (though that would be possible only until the kids remained 'small') they would at least stave off hunger.

2006-08-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

A information entrepreneur

It was funny to read in The Hindu the other day, that Chennai's monopoly bus operator, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation does not have a printed bus guide.

It was funny because the MTC many years ago produced not just a guide giving route information, but even a good system map. It appears that as technology advances, policy regresses and a well-run transport network has gone to seed.

Back to the question of travel and transit guides, I found an entrepreneur on board a Tambaram - Beach suburban train selling an interesting pocket guide for the wholly affordable price of three rupees. Besides a set of time-tables for the suburban rail system, it has details of the State Express Transport Corporation bus services, emergency phone lines for hospitals, 24-hour pharmacies and call taxi companies.

The guide contains the following address: English Tamil Publications, 29.81, Red Hills Road, Opposite Gupta Convent, Villivakkam, Chennai 49. Phone: (044) 2617 4439.

This nifty guide suggests that it would make an ideal hand-out for trade unions, film fan associations, political parties, residents welfare associations and so on. I completely endorse the value of such a publication.

2006-08-26T05:09:00.000-07:00

Stone surprise

It is intriguing that the passage leading to the Kodambakkam suburban railway platforms presents a solid concrete stone bang in the centre. They are puzzled because the stone serves no apparent purpose.

Remember that at dusk, this passage is plunged in darkness and unless you are a regular commuter, you may not be able to spot this stone. The results of such failure are all too imaginable.

In the background is the staircase leading to the platforms. More about that later. I am riding a lot of trains these days and have come to call these staircases the "42 steps."

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days. This is what Chennai's suburban railway looks like. More to come, of course.

A three car train that runs between Thirumailai (Mylapore) and Chennai Beach:

The new train information system installed with the sign "on trial" at Kodambakkam station. It did not appear to be too accurate and as you can see, there is no clock in the board itself. You would have walk further on the same platform to spot the clock! If this system had been electronic (as it is in airports and even some major Indian railway stations) many display terminals could be connected to show the same information. So why is the wheel being reinvented?

The inside of some of the more recently introduced trains on the Chennai suburban railway looks like this. Considering the ramshackle past, this is welcome, but it lacks system maps and wastes opportunities to communicate useful information to a large commuter population. Note the man squatting in the passage (partly seen). Quite common in Indian trains.

2006-08-22T00:41:00.000-07:00

The railroad - the sensible road ahead

As the Americans call it, it is the railroad. We know it as the suburban train, and in London, it is the tube. To many others, the modern versions are the Metro trains.

Whatever moniker suits you, the train does a lot of good to Chennai. Only, it is still in its antiquated Victorian state, rather than modernise with the times just as the Ambassadors and Fiats have given way to the Marutis, Hondas, Fords, Skodas and Toyotas. Of course, Chennai's buses also remain hopelessly primitive and the design of even new bus bodies obsolete.

As someone who uses trains everywhere (I have had occasion to use urban rail in London, New York, Washington DC, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Hong Kong) I cannot help noticing the miserably archaic train system that we have in Chennai.

The only redeeming thing about the train is its capacity to carry a large number of people. Otherwise, it is simply, hopelessly outdated in terms of infrastructure and operations.

Here is a glimpse of a station for the most recently introduced train, running on the Mass Rapid Transit System line:

To be fair, this is Fort Station, which is at the surface level. Half a kilometre from here, the MRTS goes on to an elevated section.
But look at the non-working clock, the lack of any signages for passengers indicating basic train information. The ticketing systems are simply pathetic. One has climb a steep flight of stairs to reach the ticketing office and then move to the MRTS platform.
An example of the ticketing offices of the suburban train system in Chennai is this one, at Kodambakkam on the Beach -- Tambaram line.

This office is deep inside the station, on the platform. The downside to that placement is that if you have a train coming in, you would have to sprint up to the office, to get your ticket and then jump on to the train. Being entirely manual, the ticket system is slow, involving a queue in most cases.

The worst disincentive to using the suburban railway system is the lack of automation in the form of escalators to reach the platforms. The approach to the suburban train stations, particularly those on the Beach - Thiruvanmiyur section, is invariably dark, dank and dirty. This puts off many potential travellers.

2006-08-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

Car-free Sunday

A week after the Hyundai Elantra knocked my car out of circulation, it was another Sunday. On a day like this, you become aware of how severely car-dependent you are, because India's (more particularly, Tamil Nadu's) policymakers have all but abandoned expansion of bus systems. Trains don't really present an alternative except for long distance commuting. That leaves us with autorickshaws.

Chennai's unregulated autorickshaw business is well-known. It is one of the costliest cities when it comes to hiring such intermediate transport. The fares approximate to between Rs.12 and Rs.15 a kilometre, arguably the highest in the country. The Governments led by both Ms.Jayalalithaa and Mr.Karunanidhi have over the last decade all but abandoned the need to regulate such feeder transport systems.

There is thus no functioning law governing autorickshaws. If you have lived here long enough, you know where you can bargain more effectively and save a few rupees. Trying to hail a crusing autorickshaw in most neighbourhoods is simply useless because the drivers recognise a monopoly principle for stand autorickshaws. Only after your negotiation with the local stand autorickshaws can you hire one that is cruising (and may hence make a more reasonable fare demand).

One of the reasons for this state of affairs is the long shadow of political parties on the transport sector. Let me explain: the major Dravidian parties saw early enough that given their inability to generate employment in most other sectors, urban transport was a means of providing a livelihood to the party faithful.

Thus, autorickshaw permits are secured by the middle rung city political leaders (and sometimes by those associated with leading film personalities) and the autorickshaws are handed over to people from the lowest strata to operate. Given the lack of education and any system of oversight, a high degree of lumpenisation exists in the sector. In fact, in the early 1990s, autorickshaws became the symbols of lumpen-led attacks on political and other opponents. The autorickshaws also demonstrate their affiliations on the vehicles in the form of flags, stickers of party colours, photos of the leaders and so on, all in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act rules. At the same time, few of them have functioning brake lights, headlights, windscreen wipers and indicators, as required under the MV Act.

Is it this vested interest the reason for not expanding the city's bus system, which has grown at the rate of about 100 buses a year for a decade, to serve a metropolis that has expanded in residential population terms by about a million and half people, and in area by a radius of 20 km in that period?

The robust economic growth of the country has accelerated the demand for transport in Chennai, but the Governments have preferred to encourage private vehicle ownership over provision of public alternatives. Private participation in Chennai's transport system is seen as politically unacceptable, although the families of Dravidian politicians own powerful private television networks both in India and abroad.

More on this later. Meanwhile, my car-free Sunday cost me and family Rs.200 by way of autorickshaw and bus fares.

2006-08-18T05:39:00.000-07:00

Beyond the car windows

For most city drivers, the world outside their car windows is a distant and remote place. But many such coccooned citizens in fancy cars come face-to-face with the inconvenient reality everyday.

I am talking about the scores of women and children who frequent the traffic intersections in Chennai, appealing to those inside the cars to buy vehicle-cleaning cloth, ear buds, in-car fancy dolls and other assorted stuff.

On Independence Day, I saw this woman who was going from car to car, trying to sell miniature India's national flag displays. These are usually intended to be kept on the dashboard, a public show of patriotism in a land that has failed many of its citizens even after nearly six decades of independence.

It is always worrying that some of these women and their children might come in harm's way, as they keep flitting between vehicles and scurry off just as the lights turn green.

2006-08-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Yellow line fever

I remember the film White Line Fever, in which monstrous trucks race across America. The world has changed a lot and it is now possible to track down crazed drivers, but in Chennai, it is now Yellow Line Fever.

You might wonder what the purpose of these lines are. Police personnel occasionally take the trouble of painting these lines, continuous yellow or broken yellow and broken white lines that are supposed to mean something to drivers.

But not in Chennai.

Look at the response of drivers to plastic bollards that have been placed by traffic police on Anna Flyover at Gemini, and you get an idea of what I mean.

Earlier, we had traffic ignoring the double yellow lines painted on the flyover, and going the wrong way into T.Nagar. They closed that entry at night, because vehicles began to have head-on collisions.

Then, the police have a set of cones on the lines, to demarcate the two halves of the road. Many of those cones were crushed by drivers with impunity. After all, what do a few cones mean in a city that has no rules? People don't even stop at red lights here!

So the police got plastic bollards, thin red cylinders about a couple of feet tall. We have seen even these getting crushed, because no one in the traffic police is ready to wait on the flyover and get the Mad Maxes who are knocking them down and crushing them!

Look at the Lancer car in the picture, straddling the broken white lines, ignorant of what they are supposed to mean. The British brought the automobile to India, but they never taught Indians what lane discipline means. If you are getting very hot under the collar because I talk of the British, why not show me Indian leaders who have done better?

2006-08-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Rooftop riders, only this is not an open top tourist bus!

How do you like this picture of some youths of Chennai riding on top of a city bus, celebrating in a style that may not be common in much of the civilised world?

Riders do hang out of buses for want of space during peak hours, but I watched these urchins generally making a nuisance of themselves and keen on attracting attention through such antics. But in a country where it is difficult even to get your 15 minutes of fame, perhaps they don't have much choice!

2006-08-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Footpaths for whom? Surely, not for advertisement billboards!

It was Independence Day and I was out on the road, without a car but many a care.

My mobile phone camera kept clicking pictures of Mera Bharat Mahaan. In a bus, looking at the dirty Cooum (river) behind the posh Connemara Hotel... Here is one picture of what is left of the footpath or sidewalk at Chennai's best known junction, Arts College.

If it will impress you, this atrocity on pedestrians has been perpetrated with the help of the World Bank, which has been loaning funds to the Tamil Nadu Government in the name of improving civic infrastructure!

2006-08-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

Chennai roads, senseless drivers and South Korean indifference

I had started this blog after a bad accident in which the personal driver (Indian) of a Korean executive of the Hyundai company rammed an Elantra car into my small, meek, fuel-sipping Maruti 800 car on August 13, 2006.

That post seems to have disappeared, so I am trying to recreate it here.

As a buckled-up, bespectacled and somewhat timid (on the road) driver who is always at odds with the drive-as-you-please Chennai traffic, my experience on the road took a great turn for the worse on that day.

A small town fellow, who gave his name as just Ravi proved my worst fears about Chennai traffic true. This ill-trained person at the wheel of a shiny wine red Elantra jumped the red signal at the junction of Music Academy on Radhakrishnan Salai and rammed his car into the side of my six-year old Maruti.

I was following the green light and going with two occupants in the car towards Marina.

Unlike the God after whom my pint sized car is named, the Maruti is a weakling when it comes to meeting metallic monsters in road combat.

Therefore, this is the result:

If you looked around the car, you would find that it does not have any dents elsewhere, in the six years that it has been on the road.

All that it took to spoil that reputation is one "classic" Indian driver called Ravi. This man said he has a licence issued in Arni, a small textile town in northern Tamil Nadu not particularly famous for the civic sense of its drivers. Surely, not now.

The occupant of the Elantra at the time of the accident, a Korean woman was completely engrossed in her own affairs, and she was content, as we found, talking to someone on the phone seated in the luxurious car. It mattered little to her that her personal driver had nearly killed three people after jumping a red light.

Perhaps people don't bother about traffic lights in South Korea - or at least, those who are executives in Hyundai motors don't. What is worse, Koreans don't seem to have basic courtesy, if this lady is a model South Korean.

If you are upset reading this particular part of the post, then you should sit inside one of the cars that Hyundai uses (presumably they do) for crash tests. It might give you some idea of what it feels like to be banged against some object.

Anyway, back to Ravi, who kept repeating after the accident that he was driving a car that belonged to a "Hyundai owner," which was shorthand for the few traffic policemen who had gathered, that his employer was an influential person. So watch out, he was essentially telling them.

Since my own car belongs to a major newspaper in this city, the police were in something of a quandary. They were relieved, in the event, to hear that they would only have to issue a certificate for insurance purposes, and not register a First Information Report and pursue the case and prosecute Ravi.

All this should give you an idea of what Chennai roads are like, when it comes to -- sorry for the pun -- crunch. Incidentally, the road where the crash took place leads to the houses of both the present and former (and possibly the future) Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu.

I called up a colleague and he sought the good offices of a senior police officer to get the insurance certificate issued quickly. After all, since Ravi was going to go scot free despite attempting to murder three people using a Hyundai Elantra, why waste time with the formalities?

So a somewhat bored head constable was asked to accompany me as I drove the battered Maruti several kilometres, to the J 2 Adyar Traffic Investigation unit at Besant Nagar. The certificate took only a short while to obtain. One must remember that the accident had taken place in full view of three or four traffic policemen, and at least 20 law and order reservists who were sitting inside a police truck, at the Music Academy junction. Why had not a single policeman stopped Ravi is of course less of a mystery, because that is the way Chennai (and much of India) works.

In all of this, I must say that the seat belts of the Maruti really did their job. Neither me nor my kid in the front left seat (the side that took the hit) were shaken seriously, but a passenger in the back was thrown to the opposite side and left with some minor sprains and bruises in one arm. So never drive without the seat belt fastened.

If you wanted to look at the stupidly driven Hyundai Elantra car this is it:

The boot is ajar because the broken bumper of the car has been placed inside by the deviant driver.

Let me say at this point that I don't care much for cars, and think they are all contraptions that are only useful to get from point A to B. In fact, I believe it is criminal to sell such monsters in large numbers in a poor country like India (yes, despite the tall talk of India shining and superpower status etc), to drink up precious fuel for the pleasure of a few (like the lone Korean woman inside this one), while the bulk of the people in Chennai are sweating it out in ramshackle buses and overcrowded trains. Perhaps if we had air-conditioned buses and trains operating at affordable fares (without long waiting times), and they were funded by taxing such profligate consumers, I would not feel so bad.

All of which brings me to my pet raves and rants.

I am a proud advocate of public transport, car pools, ride shares, congestion charging and costlier fuel. I just love those good trains, buses, trams and the wide sidewalks (or footpaths if you wish).

You will find these themes recurring in this blog. So don't go away!

2006-08-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

More on the Hyundai car crash episode

I thought I should share the police certificate on the car crash. Here it is, in pdf form. If you drive a vehicle and haven't seen a certificate from police to claim insurance after an accident (involving no injury, because if someone is injured, an FIR is registered).

Given the credibility of the enforcement mechanism of India's Motor Vehicles Act rules, the rash, negligent and arrogant driver of this car will not pay any penalty, other than the palm greasing that he did on the day of the accident. What is worse, he quickly sought the help of a off-duty constable to plead his case with me, urging that I should only ask for insurance money, and not file an FIR which would lead to a police investigation. Helps everybody, doesn't it? So Ravi can drive another of these cars stupidly and crash into another guy like me. Anyway, companies like Hyundai are there to bail out such untrained drivers who are employed practically as manservants in the house of the executives

2006-08-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

Here's why Onyx stinks

We all know that Onyx, the international "waste specialists" who claim to have the best environment technologies elsewhere in the world, work only to transport trash in Chennai from houses to a dump in South Chennai, at Perungudi.

I have a picture of an Onyx three wheeler piled high with trash, most of it rotting vegetable waste, speeding up on G.N.Chetty Road.
So here's the image. Today is Wedneseday, August 16. This is the way Onyx carries much of the trash from parts of Chennai to the transfer stations, and from there, it is carted to the dump.