respite for battered Chennai [some Media puts it otherwise] !!!

There was water, water and more …. as SYMA did some relief work, we  could see on our way  river in spates and water flowing on roads in some places.  Though we intended reaching Chromepet and took a detour via Maduravoyal Irumbuliyur toll bridge  – we could not move beyond Thiruneermalai and were forced to return back – distributing food on the way. 

Today,  the first relief was – ‘ no rains ‘ and Sun did come out – morning we could go to Godown Street, in Georgetown on two-wheeler  and buy some dress material ! and thus started the day. Everywhere we could see people interested in doing some relief work – a good sign for the city.

Our Prime Minister Narendra Modiji  made an aerial survey of the city,  announced relief of Rs. 1000 crore for Tamil Nadu, which, he said, will be released "immediately by the Centre". "This is over and above Rs. 940 crore which was released earlier," he said.  PM Shri  Narendra Modi, also met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms J Jayalalithaa and assured that the Govt of India  will stand by the people of Tamil Nadu in their hour of need".

There is another popular man [on whom there are so many memes !] said Regional Meteorological Department Director, S.R. Ramanan; and lot of what he predicts has been happening.  The weather Office predicted more rains ! Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today  said in the Lok Sabha that 269 people had lost their lives in rain-hit Tamil Nadu.

Now having returned home from a tiring day’s work, watched few minutes of Times Now where they harped on ‘good drinking water’ not available [later corrected that it is being provided in camps but not to others marooned] – while the Govt official said things are improving – the host kept contending that not much is being done and people are suffered.  Scroll news read that at 8 pm today – many parts are still under water !

This morning SYMA had collected good amount of relief material and around 1000 packets of food was given by Sri Raghavendra Mutt, Triplicane.  The first truck left for relief work with our volunteers and from Mutt.  The 2^nd truck was organised in association with Sri Parthasarathi Swami temple.. Thirukovil DC Mr P Kothandaraman and many kovil staff accompanied us.  There was good quantity of cooked food from Sri Parthasarathi kovil  in 3 big vessels with few hundreds of clothes, biscuits and other material too.

As the truck went along – first to Maduravoyal, there was Sun, water level has receded in many places [not to say that there is no water and that all people are comfortable ! – many are suffering and some are still marooned – but situation has largely improved] ; the places where we wades through water, the bigger truck was able to pass by.  At Maduravoyal Govt High school, yesterday, we did not have enough for all the people – but today, some Agencies had already distributed food by the time, we were there.  A van was distributing bananas from truck load of crates and there was scramble – but the food was received orderly and many said, that they have had and not interested in this.

As we proceeded on Maduravoyal toll bridge, the situation presented a far better picture and we could move on.  Eventually, we received an area in Thiruneermalai – opposite to Tambaram Sanatorium and distributed the food. Then we went to Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Chromepet where Seva Barathi is doing exemplary service.  We deposited some material here and also bought some good quantity of rice bags. 

On return around 7.30 pm – we could travel in the GST road – via Meenambakkam, Kathiappara – the Saidapet bridge had been opened to traffic – via Raj bhavan,  Adyar, we traversed Thiru Vi Ka bridge near Malar hospital – [water has been flowing over the bridge here and at Saidapet and traffic had been closed earlier] – now the river was flowing [nothing on bridge] and vehicular movement was normal.

Good news is that the Sun came out in Chennai today and the water level has started receding in some areas. The Met department has said the low pressure will weaken over the next 48 hours.  Soon the city should limp back to normalcy.

There have been spate of calls – many people have supported SYMA [many have been helping people individually; there are many other associations too] financially and with material.  SYMA thanks you all.  Perhaps, by tomorrow, we will close our present ‘flood relief work’.

A Big Thank you to all

Regards – S. Sampathkumar,

Secretary SYMA

3^rd Dec 2015 @ 10 p.m.

cattle grazing - at 100 ft road bridge near Arumbakkam

normal vehicular traffic at Poonamalle High road

the school at Maduravoyal 

Indian Army at work 

food getting readied at Vivekananda Vidyalaya by Seva Barathi  

and sent to various places 

more rains in Chennai ~ and some relief work by SYMA at Anakaputhur

Rains, rains and more in Chennai –  Chennaites had a wet “Deepavali” – this year, and almost since that time  torrential rains have  inundated Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu dumping  enough rainfall in Chennai that enabled the city to cross its monthly average rainfall with aplomb. Owing to the deep depression, Chennai received a whopping 357 mm of rainfall in  four days !

Rain has been unrelenting ~ there was so much of it on 23^rd – and yesterday too [1^st Dec] there was heavy rain – it rained continuously.  Record-shattering torrential rains brought Chennai to its knees on Wednesday as widespread flooding shut down the airport and factories of top automobile companies, while trains packed with passengers were rendered immobile on submerged tracks. Today, the  rain relented a little by afternoon but a drizzle under overcast skies continued amid reports of rising water level in many parts of the state capital as well as its adjoining districts.

The city remained off limits as cars, trucks and buses could not enter or go out of it. Several feet of water blocked most of its main roads and dangerous sink holes appeared on many streets.  Some reports put that more than a lakh of people have been driven away from their homes as a 100 year old record of one day’s rainfall covering a month’s average, was virtually broken.

Triplicane, fortunately is not affected badly.  Today Thiruvallikkeni buzzed with activity.  Srinivas Youngmens Association [SYMA] organised relief work.  We organised sets of raincoats for Corporation workers [must place on record the great work they are doing in many parts of the city].  We arranged a mini-truck, carried relief material including mats, new blankets, new sarees, rice bags and food packets.  Friends of Thennacharya Sri Padham Thangi Sabha also distributed food packets at many places.  They joined with SYMA and handed over 200 food packets.  We planned to handover the materials to Seva Barathi at Tambaram and travelled via Poonamallee High Road, Maduravoyal bridge.

There was water, water and more …. On way saw river in spates and water flowing on roads in some places.  Could not move beyond Thiruneermalai and were forced to return back – distributing food on the way.  At Anakaputhur, it was a pathetic sight – people at housetops – water running like a small river – marooned,  we could not move them out – but provided them food, blanket, mats – passing them through rope.  We finally distributed the relief material at Maduravoyil Govt High School and returned home.

Planning to organise food packets tomorrow too ~ glad to see that many other Organisations and individuals too are engaged in providing succour.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar [Secretary, SYMA]

2^nd Dec 2015

 nearer Thiruneermalai - on Maduravoyal by-pass

 marooned house at Anakaputhur and some relief

 Madha Engineering college

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. announce donating 99% of FB stock to charity

A kind-hearted Zamindar lives with his sister-in-law and cousin, helping people. His sister-in-law has a son, to whom the Zamindar bequeaths a major portion of his property. At this juncture, a new baby is born to the Zamindar. His wife dies soon after. Brother  cheats the Zamindar as he fears that his son's property might be taken back and given to the Zamindar's own son. When the cheating comes to light, the Zamindar hands over all his property and his baby to his sister-in-law and brother and goes to the Himalayas, making his sister-in-law promise him that the baby should be brought up as a servant, not as a Zamindar. This baby is named Muthu  ~ and that is film “Muthu”…

An Orphan  travels from his village to Madras. He  discovers himself to be a son of a dead millionaire— and for  an inheritance of  3000 crore – he has to spend 30 crore in a month, with conditions !.  ~ the story of “Arunachalam”.

A ruler of the erstwhile princely state and a civil services officer, builds a dam to solve the water problems of that village. The dam faces severe resistance from the British Raj, the Raja spends his entire fortune on the dam for the villagers' benefit ………  that was “Lingaa”

Donating one’s fortune, a great virtue has been the centre theme of many movies – and some Great people have done that in the past – history is replete with such life-stories. Tamil literature is ripe with Kings who were greatly appreciated for their philanthropy. Those benevolent donors were called ‘Vallal” in Tamil.  The Sangam era eulogies them as ‘Seven great donors’ [Ezhu vallalgal] ~ in fact there were 3 sets of them and this particular post is more about the ‘last set – popularly known as “Kadai-ezhu-vallalgal”’.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday of his plans to eventually donate 99 percent of the Facebook stock owned by him and his wife Priscilla Chan, shares that are worth about $45 billion today, making it one of the largest-ever philanthropic commitments.  Zuckerberg said in an open letter that the birth last week of their first child — a daughter named Max — was the motivation to dedicate their considerable wealth to charitable causes now. They wrote they did not want to wait to “advance human potential and promote equality for all children.”

“I will continue to serve as Facebook’s CEO for many, many years to come,” Zuckerberg wrote, “but these issues are too important to wait until you or we are older to begin this work.”  The money will be channelled into the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a newly formed group that will initially focus on education and health. It was also clear from Zuckerberg’s letter that he and his wife had learned lessons from their earlier philanthropic attempts and plan to move in a new direction.

Zuckerberg’s announcement stands out because of his relative youth — he’s just 31 — and the gift’s massive size. The donation also comes at a time when the world’s wealthiest business leaders seem to be challenging each other to give away their fortunes before they die. Just a few days ago, Zuckerberg joined Bill Gates and a number of other tech titans to boost clean-energy and climate research.  In 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge to encourage billionaires to donate the bulk of their wealth to charity. Gates, the former Microsoft leader, already has given away $31.5 billion, mostly to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffet has given away more than $22 billion of his Berkshire Hathaway stock and plans to eventually donate nearly his entire fortune.

More than 130 billionaires worldwide have joined them, including Judy Faulkner, founder of electronic health records company Epic, who reportedly said she plans to give away 99 percent of her money. Also this year Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the richest men in the world, , said the pledge inspired him to eventually give away his entire fortune, more than $30 billion. Zuckerberg quietly committed to this pledge too, although his Nov. 9 letter didn’t reveal the scale of his intentions.

The FB couple revealed their plans in a lengthy “letter to our daughter” published on Facebook, the social network Zuckerberg co-founded while a student at Harvard and which today has 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide. Their daughter’s full name is Maxima Chan Zuckerberg, and she was born just before Thanksgiving, weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces, according to a Facebook spokeswoman.

In the open letter, Zuckerberg and Chan talked about the potential that technology offers to re-engineer the way children learn. “Our generation grew up in classrooms where we all learned the same things at the same pace regardless of our interests or needs,” they wrote. Zuckerberg and Chan have given $15 million to AltSchool, a for-profit corporation founded by a former Google executive working to create a network of schools that use technology to personalize instruction. The couple also has given $120 million to traditional public schools and public charter schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

But Zuckerberg’s first foray into education philanthropy was in itself a learning experience. In 2010, he gave $100 million to remake public schools in Newark, N.J., with with mixed results. Critics of that effort said the plan faltered in part because it was a top-down approach that called for wholesale changes in the city’s public schools with plans crafted by outsiders, not community members.

In their letter to Max, Zuckerberg and Chan talked about the value of learning from mistakes. Zuckerberg and Chan, a pediatrician and onetime teacher, plan to open a private, tuition-free school for low-income children in East Palo Alto, Calif., that will integrate health care and support for families with classroom learning.  While the letter to their daughter Max was obviously intended for a much wider audience, revealing their ambition to fund billions of dollars in new philanthropic works, the couple ended their note in a more personal, quiet fashion.

It was signed simply, “Love, Mom and Dad.”

Appreciations to Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2^nd Dec 2015.

Contents largely reproduced from Washingpost.com

Incessant rains bring water to Thiruvallikkeni Kairavini Pushkarini ~ !! 2015

Heavy rains lashed parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and neighbouring Puducherry, disrupting flight movement and leaving several areas inundated. It is gloomy for people, as Weather Office is forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall for Tamil Nadu, especially over the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.

There have been incessant rains ~ Schools remain closed from Deepavali – and resumed last week – after  a few days of relief from rain, monsoon activity resumed over the State with heavy showers on the last day of the month, making this November the second wettest month in a century for battered Chennai.  According to newspaper reports,  Kodavasal in Tiruvarur received the highest volume of 120mm.  The Meteorological department expects a decrease in rainfall from Thursday.

Now, the Hindu reports that Chennai City seems to be heading for a crisis of sorts as the Govt.  has started releasing 20,000 cubic feet per second of water from Chembarambakkam reservoir into Adyar. This is the highest volume of outflow from the reservoir in several years.  Chennai Collector E. Sundaravalli has issued a flood warning and appealed to families living along the Adyar river to move to safer places.  After pounding and battering the city for a month, heavy rains resumed overnight on Monday after a brief break for four days.  Today, it was heavy battering with water logging in many places and vehicles getting struck.Suburban train services on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram sector were crippled. Services on the Chennai Central-Tiruvallur sector were also disrupted. Arterial roads were flooded and traffic was affected.

In Dec 2011, Cyclone Thane made a landfall nearer Cuddalore and in its wake brought rains everywhere.  I had posted about Cyclone Thane bringing water to Kairavini Pushkarini - Sri Parthasarathi Swami Temple tank.  The temple tank has great significance attached with the birth of the greatest Acharyar ‘Shri Bhagawad Ramanujar” – the reincarnation of Adi Seshan. The great scholar Asuri Sarvakruthu Keshava Dikshithar better known as Keshava Somayajiaar performed yagnam at the temple tank of Thiruvallikkeni and Sri Ramanujar was born to him and Kanthimathi.

In most traditional temples, one would find temple tanks in front of the temple.  Bathing in sacred waters of these tanks is believed to cure diseases and get rid of sins.  Temple tanks are wells or reservoirs built as part of the temple complex in Indian temples.  In Hindu way of life, water is considered sacred and pureficatory.  Protection and management of water supplies helped the Society at large.  The underlining the importance of temple tanks is not their sanctity alone, they serve  a very practical purpose - that of maintaining ground water tables and replenishing community water supplies.

The divyadesam of Thiruvallikkeni derives its name from the holy pond known as “kairavini pushkarini’ – the pond of lily flowers.  The holy tank of Lord Sri Parthasarathi – the ‘kairavini pushkarini’ was laid with cement in the mid 1970s.  Cyclone Thane did cause damage to parts of Tamil Nadu but copious water flowed  into the tank and the water level has risen well. 

Comparatively, the water level now due to the present continuous rains have not risen that much. - see the photos taken today at around 04.15 pm

Going by the Sthala puranam, the temple tank had no fish – they were released much later – and here is some spotted during rains ….. !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st Dec 2015.