No bus to school, students walk 10 km – sordid state of Pozhichalur, Chennai City.

Today’s news item in Times of India that for more than a month now, hundreds of students in Pozhichalur, 20 km south of Chennai, have been forced to walk to the Pallavaram government secondary school and back home, a distance of 10 km, because the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has brought down the total number of buses from 13 to just two buses every day makes a very sad reading. Pozhichalur is no dusty village – it is situated closer to the city, much closer to the Airport and was infact in news for long as this was stated to be the area where airport expansion was to take place. This place reportedly known as Pughal Chola Nallur dating back to Chola rulers famous for Agastgeeswarar and Sri Ramaanjaneya temple is closer to Pallavaram railway station on the local electric train network.

Even the existing two bus services such as 60G (Pozhichalur to Parrys Corner) and M52B (Pozhichalur to Broadway) have been converted into a ‘cut service’ for more than a month now. At present, these two buses operate from Pozhichalur to Pallavaram and Hastinapuram. There on, commuters have to board another bus at GST Road to reach the city. A few services also operated to Guduvancherry and Koyambedu from Pozhichalur. But, they were not operated regularly. Earlier, buses were operated to Broadway, Parrys Corner, Avadi, Saidapet and other places in the city from Pozhichalur. Now, the twodecades-old bus terminus in Pozhichalur wears a deserted look. Even the two buses are operated irregularly, as the time-keeper has been transferred to Chromepet.

More daunting is the reason assigned quoting sources in MTC that these rural areas do not boost the revenue of the buses. This straightaway takes away to the thought process of What Government should be doing and what should be done with profit motive !!


In a democracy it is the bounden duty of the Government to take care of its citizen which would include providing education and maintaining roads and other utilities. Can there be any argument that roads would be put and infrastructure provided only where there is revenue ?


Chennai’s economic development is tied to its port and transport infrastructure. The transportation requirement of the city residents are met by extensive public transport system. The bus service is run by the government-owned Metropolitan Transport Corporation which extends to the city and its suburbs. This service is generally considered efficient though there would be pockets which are not well connected and ill served due to paucity of services. Many of us would remember “PTC” – the Pallavan Transport Corporation as it was known earlier. PTC was established way back in 1972 with a fleet strength of 1029 buses. Then it was bifurcated into Pallavan and Dr Ambedkar Transport Corpn in 1994. Year 1997 saw their renaming as MTC Chennai division 1 & 2 then amalgamated in 2001.


The bus services have been brought down from 13 to 2 every day. The transport officials were reported to have stated that there was no revenue in these routes, roads in rural sectors are bad, often buses break down and hence the decision to avoid these areas.  The direct result is that the travellers – young and old have to wrestle for space or walk the long distance to reach their destinations. With no buses what would be the use of bus passes. This move coming as it did close to public examinations have added woes to the sorry state of affairs. Though Chennai is a metropolitan city, still there are pockets where getting to school itself is a big concession for some students whose parents are either marginal farmers or do menial jobs.

The development and maintenance of roads and infrastructure is a fundamental duty of the Government. The development of transportation is an essential factor for improving infrastructure for fuelling development of the state economy. There were times when some reputed Private companies operated bus services – known for their precision and accuracy – they were making good profits. Obviously, private players would eye for profits rather than providing service to the rural and low revenue earning areas.

Soon after independence, the nationalisation of passenger road transport in Tamilnadu commenced and Govt. took over all routes in Chennai city. In 1959, Govt exclusively owned operation in all routes exceeding 120 miles and long distance buses were introduced by State owned Transport Dept. In 1967, Govt. announced nationalisation of all routes of 120 km and above, all routes radiating from or terminating in Madras city irrespective of length and all routes in Kankakumari Dist. In 1971 Tamil Nadu Fleet Operators Stage Carriages (Acquisition) Act was enacted by which all the routes, buses, workshops and the staff of the five fleet operators owning 50 permits and above were acquired and transferred to three Transport Corporations viz. Pandiyan Roadways Corporation, Cheran Transport Corporation and Cholan Roadways Corporation. The saga of operation only by Govt has seen many court and many decisions.


It is another story that all State owned transport corporations had accumulated huge losses and many have not honoured even Court decrees passed in MACT and other forums arising out of road accidents involving transport corporation owned buses.
The Govt. has Revenue Dept which serves as the backbone of administrative set up boasts of having a defined network that runs from cities to villages reaching every family implementing all socio economic programmes of the Govt. In recent years, the Transport Corporation also acclaims to provide responsive system for the welfare of passengers by providing safe, secure, passenger comfort through efficient operations.

It is unfortunate that the common man continues to suffer.


Regards – Sampathkumar

PHOTOS OF SYMA CHILDFEST 2010

Dear (s)


This year we had huge turnout in Goldwinner SYMA Child Fest held at NKT National Girls High School on 6th & 7th of Feb 2010.  There were more than 100 schools and individually, we had close to 4000 students participating.


We have made arrangement for distribution of photos of children winning awards in the following manner.


All the photos have been grouped as under :
1)  CD 1 - Photos containing 'Fancy Dress competition' and Prize distribution held on 6th Feb 2010.
2)  CD 2 - Photos containing Dancing competition and Prize distribution held on 7th Feb 2010.


All recipients of awards were taken photos whilst receiving their awards from the Chief Guests and in case, any were left out, we seek your apology.


The CDs can be collected from our Office (at our Medical Centre) at 29 Thulasinga Perumal Koil Street, (opp to Bharathiyar illam), Triplicane, Chennai 600 005 between 10am to 1 am and 5pm to 7 pm on payment of nominal charges of Rs.30/- per CD.


For any further enquiries, please contact our Secretaries.   Here are some photos of the Child Fest


With regards - S Sampathkumar

The venue - NKT National Girls School decked up

Inauguration by Doctors of our Medical Centre and Teacher of our Tuition Centre

some children ready for fancy dress

me compering the First day prize distribution function - Chief Guests : Neeya Naana Gopinath & Jayaprakash, Sr VP of Star Health

a view of the trophies

Second day function - Chief Guest : Vivek & Murali of Sri Krishna Sweets

the rolling shield awarded to DAV Girls School (School of the Fest)

IS IT THE SWAN SONG FOR SIBERIAN CRANES

Swan song : means a final gesture or performance, given before dying.


Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. These however are usually irregular or in only one direction and are termed variously as nomadism, invasions, dispersal or irruptions. Migration is marked by its annual seasonality.
The first natural historian to write about migration as an observable fact was Aristotle. Aristotle was an astute observer and is known to have recorded the times of departure of some species from Greece, and listing Pelicans, Turtle Doves, Swallows, Quail, Swans and Geese correctly as migrants he accurately observed that all migrating birds fatten themselves up before migrating. Scientific investigation of bird migration began in 1802 when birds were tagged with metal leg bands. The numbering of the rings is controlled by a national body in most countries and the rings have a contact address on them. Hundreds of thousands of birds are banded around the world each year, by amateurs and professionals. In India, it was only in the 1960s that effective bird ringing projects became possible.

Now coming back to ‘swan song’ – the term is derived from the legend that, swans remain mute throughout their life time but sing beautifully and mournfully just before they die. Though swan song is figuratively used to refer celebrated performers making their farewell tours or final performances, this isn't true in reality as even the inaccurately named Mute Swans, have a variety of vocal sounds and they don't sing before they die. But to ornithologists, the spotting of Siberian cranes in India is amiss and perhaps the cranes had had a swan song.

The Siberian Crane, Grus leucogeranus, also known as the Siberian White Crane or the Snow Crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. This species breeds in arctic Russia in Yakutia and western Siberia. It is a long distance migrant. The eastern population winters on the Yangtze River and Lake Poyang in China, the central population at Keoladeo National Park, India and the western population in Fereydoon Kenar in Iran. It breeds and winters in wetlands, where it feeds on the shoots, roots and tubers of aquatic plants.

This is a large white crane, typically 4.9-8.6 kg (10.8-19 lbs), 140 cm (55 in), and 210–230 cm (83–91 in) across the wings. Large males can exceed 152 cm (60 inches) and weigh over 10 kg (22 lbs). Adults are all white, except for a dark red mask extending from the bill to behind the eye and black primary wing feathers. It has a yellow iris and reddish legs. The male is slightly larger than the female. Juveniles have a feathered mask and buff or cinnamon plumage. The voice is flute-like and musical. On an examination of specimens, researchers found aquatic plants in their stomach, however, they are noted to pick up beetles and birds eggs.
At the time of bombing at Afghan areas by US fighter jets in pursuance of rooting out the taliban regime in 2001 – the cranes could still find their way to India but alas the last Siberian Crane in India was not to be seen thereafter.

When it comes to migration, the Arctic Tern has the longest-distance migration of any bird, and sees more daylight than any other, moving from its Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic non-breeding areas. One Arctic Tern, ringed (banded) as a chick on the Farne Islands off the British east coast, reached Melbourne, Australia in just three months from fledging, a sea journey of over 22,000 km (14,000 miles). A few seabirds, such as Wilson's Petrel and Great Shearwater, breed in the southern hemisphere and migrate north in the southern winter. Seabirds have the additional advantage of being able to feed during migration over open waters.
In this context, the majestic Siberian cranes skipping India this winter (actually for the tenth consecutive year) makes a sad reading. Experts apprehend that the Siberian Cranes are unlikely to ever come to the Bharatpur region of Rajasthan again as they have apparently changed their centuries-old migratory route from Siberia to India. The bird lovers and ornithologists trying for a glimpse of the bird have been in for disappointment. All along their route to India was though Afghanistan. The dwindling size of the most endangered species have also added to this – as per authoritative international estimates, there are barely 3200 siberian cranes left in the world. The central population which used to come to India during winter is now considered extinct – the eastern population has around 3000 and it is also under threat owing to changes in their wintering areas in China, attributable to construction of huge Three Gorges Dam.

Reports state that at its peak, in 1965, Bharatpur hosted over 200 Siberian Cranes. Less than 30 years later, in 1993, only five were sighted there. Then, after a gap of three years, four were spotted in 1996. That was reduced to barely a pair of these birds by the late 1990s, following by the last pair seen in 2001.

The predominant cause could well the loss of natural habitat and there are reports of hunting of these huge birds in Afghan & Pakistan.  The famed winged travelers of long distance in trying to escape the cold winter of Siberia flying over Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and then to northwestern India with a brief halt at Abi-I-Istada Lake in Afghanistan reaching Bharatpur in around eight week could bleakly turn to be a thing of the past.

Unfortunately this could add one more to the long list of extinct birds and animals brought more about by man’s greed to encroach everywhere and spoil the environ without any concern.

S. Sampathkumar.

TAMIL CINEMA QUIZ

Cinema enthuses many - I am not a great fan and do not watch much. In an informal office function, just to make the atmosphere more lively, a cine quiz was organized by me. If you think you are cinema crazy, check your IQ.


1) Which was the first Tamil sound film released on 31st October 1931 ?


2) The Corsican Brother released in 1941 starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr was a smash hit with storyline of siamese twins separated at birth and raised in completely different circumstances. This was the plot of a tamil film directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. Name it !


3) the 1988 comedy produced by Steven Spielberg saw cartoon characters commonly interact with main characters. What was its equivalent in Tamil ?


4) The cinema Bharatha Vilas is a 1973 Tamil film starring Sivaji Ganesan had a Punjabi family led by Baldev Singh ? who played this role ?


5) Padayappa was directed by KS Ravikumar and starred Soundarya & Ramya Krishnan with Rajini. Music by AR Rahman and was the last film for Sivaji Ganesan. (Looks like all possible Questions over ?)


The producer Thenappan registered the stylised Padayappa design as a Class 34 trademark in 1998 for some goods, making it to be first instance of brand extention in Tamil film industry ? what were the brands ?


6) Time Magazine has a compilation of “All time 100 Greatest Movies” featuring best movies released between March 3, 1923 (when the first issue of Time was published) and 2005 (when list was compiled) Only one tamil film, of 1980s figure in it. Name it ?


7) Brewster's Millions is a novel written by George Barr McCutcheon in 1902, originally under the pseudonym of Richard Greaves. It was a successful film when made in 1985 with Richard Pryor and John Candy in the cast. A tamil film with Rajni in the lead was perhaps even a bigger hit. Name it ?
8) Pazhassi Raaja is a Malayalam film released in 1964 The maiden song of the Music director : RK Sekhar “Chottamuthal chudala vare” was sung by KJ Jesudoss. How is this man better known in Tamilnadu and in India ?
9) In the film Chandramukhi – Devuda Devuda song, various people (Director P Vasu, Producer Ramkumar) come on screen calling " repeatu" One non cine person close associated with Shivaji Rao Gaekwas also appears on screen. Who is that ?
10) the Radha Ravi and Srividya starrer Naalaya Theerpu released in 1992 is significant milestone in tamil film industry why ?


With regards - S Sampathkumar






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Answers :


1) Kalidas – the story of the Sanskrit Poet


2) Apoorva Sagodharargal


3) Raja Chinna roja – stated to be remake of sound of Music


4) Major Sundararajan


5) Beedi, cigarettes, tobacco and cheroots for which class 34 is the no.


6) Mani Rathnam directed Kamal starrer - Nayagan




7 the story of village hero spending money within the specified time - Arunachalam


8) father of AR Dileep Kumar aka AR Rahman


9) Raj Bahadur who drove the bus in which Rajni was the conductor for years – the bus ran from Majestic circle


10) the film in which Vijay made his debut